PANA — Ken Mueller and Ronald Reagan have at least one thing in common: They both were both actors-turned-politicians.
While it’s true the former president appeared in many films and radio broadcasts, it is equally true Mueller’s theater career landed him on stages all over the United States, including a stint on Broadway and, later, on the sound stages of Hollywood as a set designer.
Mueller was the maverick mayor of the “The City of Roses” until his retirement a years ago for health reasons. But his acting career is not over yet.
For the past several years, he has played the role of the city’s official Santa Claus, bringing up the rear of the annual Christmas Parade and hugging the many kids who rush out to greet him.
Mueller grew up in Decatur and graduated from Warrensburg-Latham High School in 1961. He enrolled at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale and received a bachelor’s degree in theater in 1966. After college, he moved to Baltimore to work in repertory theater, and, following stints in Milwaukee and on Broadway, he moved to Hollywood.
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By end of the 1970s, Mueller moved to Northern California, where he would meet his future wife, Cathy Davis. It was also there that he launched his political career on the Community Planning Commission. By 1986, he was named to the 21-member county grand jury, a powerful governmental agency responsible for ferreting out governmental corruption.
In 1995, the couple retired and moved to Pana, largely because it is close to Herrick where Ken’s family spent some time and not far from Decatur, where he grew up.
“I knew absolutely no one in Pana when we arrived here,” Ken Mueller said, “but Pana was close to home, so we decided to stay. Because of my political experience, I decided to run for alderman, even though I was virtually unknown here.”
He won that election, and it wasn’t long before he stepped on the toes of many of his colleagues.
“The problem was that Pana had five wards and 10 aldermen and by state law, a city this size could only have four wards and eight aldermen. I prepared a resolution to bring them into compliance and filed it. They rewarded my efforts by stripping me of all my committee assignments a week before the last filing date for mayor. I got enough signatures to get my name on the ballot as an independent candidate, in a county that was 90 percent Democrat and 10 percent Republican.”
Mueller won the election by a large margin and began using his experience in community planning to lobby Congress and the Illinois General Assembly for funds to extend U.S. 51 from Macon to Vandalia.
“It’s a road to nowhere now,” he told then Gov. George Ryan. “Until in connects to an interstate, it’s useless.”
His efforts have helped. Today, funds have been approved to extend the highway around Assumption and to pay for engineering drawings to extend the road around Pana.
All the years of fighting for more funding, and with his colleagues, have not deterred Mueller from his annual portrayal of Santa Claus.
“You can tell a lot about the state of the economy listening to kids, Mueller said. “They ask for less when times are tough. You can also tell a lot about their home life,” he added. “Last year, a 4-year-old hopped up on my lap, and when I asked what he wanted for Christmas, he said he wanted a real home and a dinosaur, which caused his mother to break down in tears. So I sat his mother on my lap and asked her what she wanted for Christmas,” Mueller explained.
“I want a boyfriend,” sobbed the young mother of three, “and I need a job.”
Mueller retired from the mayor’s office in the spring of 2007, citing health reasons, but he still plans to don the red suit and white whiskers next season.
While some were no doubt glad to see him go, others were quick to show their support.
In a letter dated May 31, 2007, First National Bank of Pana President John Livesay wrote:
“Dear Ken: It is with regret that I hear of your retirement as our mayor, but I congratulate you on a job well done. You have represented our community proudly, and I am 100 percent certain that you always had everyone’s best long-term interests at heart. ... You have done your duties with honor and have earned my respect and that of many others I’m sure.”
The letter was signed: “Your friend, John.”
