Bette Mueller (The Nellie McClung Foundation Founding Member)

Bette Mueller accomplished what Nellie McClung only dreamed of when Nellie said, “If I were young again – and I wish I could go back – I would spend my life as a teacher of young children...” Mueller did just that in dedicating her 40-plus-year career to making a difference in the lives of many thousands of her students.

Beginning in 1962, Mueller began teaching and blazed her first trail when she made the gutsy decision to teach after the birth of her two sons. In an era without maternity benefits or daycare, the socially unacceptable move demonstrated her courage to blaze trails. At the pinnacle of her career, in 1996, she became the first woman to ever serve as principal of Nellie McClung Collegiate in Manitou -- a place Nellie called home for nearly 20 years. McClung would be proud to see Mueller honoured not only as a 150 Trailblazer but as a woman who followed in her footsteps as an advocate for young women, as a leader at her namesake school, and as someone who has inspired and made a massive difference in the lives of many generations of Manitoba students.