Murelle Plotner never knew a stranger.
Case in point: she was always one of the first people to try and make a new student feel welcome in St. Joseph.
“When I first moved to St. Joseph in 2013, we didn’t know each other,” said Rachel Mullen, a 2015 St. Joseph-Ogden High School graduate. “I was a stranger to her, but I don’t think stranger was a word in her vocabulary.”
Christina Gherna remembers Plotner doing the same thing with her daughter, Lauren.
When the Ghernas moved to St. Joseph in 2009, Plotner and Lauren were both about to start fifth grade.
“Murelle immediately befriended Lauren and made her transition to St. Joe so much easier,” Gherna said. “Murelle was such a positive, happy person, and she sure brightened our home anytime she came over.”
Mullen said she still remembers the first day she met Plotner and how her bright, happy personality shown through then as well.
“Laughing and joking around with people and really just putting a smile on everyone’s faces,” Mullen said.
That’s what Plotner, 19, did best — putting a smile on everyone’s face.
Plotner, who passed away Saturday at St. Louis Children’s Hospital, was a big part of the SJO community, said Superintendent Brian Brooks.
“I used to say that when she was at SJO that no matter what kind of day I was having, she always put a smile on my face when I’d see her walking down the hall,” Brooks said. “Sometimes it was due to a clever comment she might make to me and other times it was just due to her smile and bubbly personality. I knew that whatever I was dealing with that day paled in comparison to what she was dealing with, so if she could put a smile on her face and enjoy the day the least I could do was do the same.”
Despite her numerous health tribulations, Plotner never lost those positive attributes.
In eighth grade, Plotner was diagnosed with Myelodysplastic Syndrome.
The syndrome is caused by poorly formed blood cells or ones that don’t work properly. The syndrome results from something not working correctly in bone marrow.
It was a disease that her mother, Chantell had overcome in 2002 with a bone-marrow transplant.
Murelle was put on a waiting list for a bone-marrow donation and seemed to get better until she developed graft versus host disease where her immune system began attacking her knees, joints and lungs.
In 2016, it was determined she needed a double lung transplant.
Three months after being placed on the waiting list, Plotner received her new lungs.
Brooks said that through it all, Plotner maintained her positive demeanor.
“You rarely would have known she was dealing with very severe illnesses unless you were already aware of her condition because she was way too tough to show you how much she was probably hurting and struggling,” he said.
When she came home to St. Joseph with her new lungs, she began to work at the IGA and took classes at Parkland College.
Then, in February 2018, Plotner’s bone marrow counts began to deteriorate, and then she received numerous bone marrow transplants throughout the year.
“This will be my fifth transplant,” she wrote in a Facebook post on Oct. 26. “I am anxious, nervous and scared. But I still have a smile on my face and a positive attitude. Please pray and hug your loved ones a little tighter because life is short. Smile and hold your head up high. For this is only the beginning of a beautiful, successful journey.”
SJO girls track and field coach Kelly Steffen said Plotner’s never-ending positivity was just part of who she was.
“It truly takes a special person to be able to let the joy of life outshine and overpower a situation like Murelle’s,” Steffen said. “On social media, I posted a picture of Murelle and I on Halloween at school a few years ago. I think my caption sums up what Murelle did for me over these past few years: ‘Thank you for teaching me way more that I could ever teach you.’”
Former SJO Superintendent Jim Acklin said he would remember Plotner’s kinda spirit. He said that he hadn’t know Plotner long before she said ‘I love you!’ at the end of the conversation they were before going their separate ways one day.
“To be honest, it kind of took me by surprise and I have to admit I didn’t respond in kind,” Acklin said. “It didn’t take long before I realized this was just her way. “
Acklin’s standard response soon became ‘Love you too kiddo.’
“Looking back, it was apparently that Murelle was wise beyond her years,” Acklin said. “It took me a lifetime to learn to tell people how I felt about them—and some people unfortunately passed on before I ever got the chance, and here a teenager had it all figured out already.”
Plotner, who loved running, competed in the 60-meter dash at an indoor meet in 2015 and set a personal record of 19.62 seconds. Whether she was competing or cheering the team along, Mullen said Plotner was very special to the SJO running community.
“I knew this girl was so special to our cross-country and track team,” Mullen said, “but what I didn’t know was how much of a lasting impression this girl I met my junior year was going to have on me.”
Brooks said the SJO community is hurting with the loss of Plotner.
“Those of us that were fortunate enough to know Murelle are better people because of it,” he said. “She taught us more about life than we could ever teach her.”
Plotner was born June 9, 1999 to Corey and Chantell Wells Plotner.
She is survived by her parents, brother R.J., sister Jillian, maternal grandparents Ray and Pam Wells, paternal grandmother Paula Plotner, maternal great-grandmother Catherine Wells and Aunts Danielle (Matt) Cler and Amanda Plotner.
Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. on Friday, Dec. 14 at Freese Funeral Home, 302 E. Grand Ave., St. Joseph. Burial will be in Patterson Cemetery, St. Joseph. Visitation will be from 4 to 7 p.m. Thursday at the funeral home.
Memorial contributions can be made to the St. Louis Children’s Hospital.
If anyone is interested in becoming a bone marrow donor they can visit https://bethematch.org.
The SJO community is raising funds to help the Plotner family pay for funeral expenses.
Donations can be given directly at the Gifford State bank for the Murelle Plotner’s Funeral Expense fund or checks can be given directly to Freese Funeral home with Murelle Plotner in the memo. Donations can also be made online at: https://www.gofundme.com/batmanisfree.
