 His father was an electrician who began working as a boy and never went to high school, but later became superintendent of an electrical motor repair shop in St. Louis.Both parents were English speakers, but also spoke German; Mueller never learned German well enough to converse.He went to Benton School in St. Louis until the 8th grade, when he and his parents moved to a larger house in the country called Bel Nor, and later graduated from Normandy High School.