Schuchmann, Lois Adeline (Kiel)

Lois Adeline (Kiel) Schuchmann was born in Fayette County, Iowa, on Sept. 13, 1921, on a farm north of West Union. She was the oldest child of Louis and Blanche (Stansberry) Kiel. She was baptized in the United Methodist Church, Fayette, and became a communicant member of the Zion Lutheran Church, West Union, on Oct. 12, 1945.

Lois graduated from Fayette High School in 1939 and earned a B.A. degree from Upper Iowa University in 1965. She took graduate work from Iowa Teacher's College in Cedar Falls and correspondence from the University of Iowa, Iowa City. Lois taught in Rowley, Maynard, Hawkeye, and West Union for a total of 32 years, retiring in 1984.

On Jan. 7, 1944, Lois was united in marriage with Clarence Edwin Schuchmann in Grand Island, Neb., St. John's Methodist Church. She returned to teaching in Maynard while Clarence flew to England to fly B17s.

Lois was a member of the Retired Teacher's Association, Hannah Circle of the Zion Lutheran Church in West Union, and Town and Country Quilter's Guild. She taped requested material for the Commission for the Blind Library in Des Moines, for which Lois received an award from Governor Terry Branstad.

Lois was preceded in death by a daughter, Loraye Anne in infancy; her husband, Clarence; her parents; and her brother, Hubert Kiel.

She is survived by her son, Kent (Patricia) Schuchmann and their sons, Todd in Florida, and Chad in North Carolina; her daughter, Alayne (James) McMillan and their sons, Troy, Jubal, and Alexander, Modesto, Calif.; nine great-grandchildren; brother-in-law, Al Schuchmann, Pinckey, Mich.; nieces; nephews; neighbors; friends; and former students.

Lois and her grandson Troy have been residing together since the death of her husband in 2006, until she moved to Stoney Brook Assisted Living in West Union.

Services for Lois will be 10:30 a.m. Monday, March 11, 2013, at Zion Lutheran Church in West Union. A visitation will be held on Sunday from 2 to 4 p.m., also at Zion Lutheran Church.

Memorial donations may be given to Iowa Department for the Blind at 524 Fourth Street, Des Moines IA 50309-2364, or a charity of your choice.

Published March 6, 2013 in The Gazette