Irma Schuler

Irma S. Schuler completed her baptismal journey on February 1, 2013 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She had extravagant and boundless love for her husband and soul mate of 70 years, Col. (ret.) Richard (Dick) Schuler, her daughter, Alison Schuler, and her grandson, Theodore Schuler-Sandy, (all of whom loved her equally) and for her extended family and numberless friends. She was born on March 31, 1918 in the small farming community of Saunemin, Illinois, and was among the first of its citizens to graduate from college. She met Dick on a blind date at a military ball at the University of Illinois. They were married on April 4, 1943 and continued to dance through life. During the many years of Dick's military service and in the many places they were assigned, she taught in elementary and middle schools, caring for her students as she cared for her family. In all of her endeavors, she was passionate about life, intrepid, determined, adventurous, and fearless, living fully and without reservation with a deep and abiding faith in the goodness of God, the rightness of life, and the making of all things new. That passion for life led her in many directions. She expressed her considerable artistic talent by studying under the painters Siegfried Hahn and Howard Wexler, producing treasures of paintings, and volunteering for many years at ArtFest to support her friend Mary Ann Weems. She gave many others the gift of health and vitality by starting her own Shaklee distributorship, which she continued to conduct until her death. With Dick, she hiked mountains and deserts and traveled the world, luxuriating in the beauty around her. Thirteen times, they hiked into the depths of the Grand Canyon, one of her favorite places on earth. Flowers grew abundantly under her care, and the wild birds came to eat from her hand at her call. Every week, she affirmed life in her worship at St. Luke Lutheran Church in Albuquerque. Music gave expression to her joy in life as she attended and supported the symphony (volunteering every year at the children's concerts) and Chamber Music Albuquerque. Most of all, she cared: for her family, for others, for abundant living, for beauty, for creation, for God, for the gift of life. She leaves Dick, Alison and Ted (of whom as an Eagle Scout and PhD electrical engineering candidate she was particularly proud), as well as her brother and his wife, Elton and Bernie Sancken, and her cherished nieces and nephews, whom she loved as her children. Irma has gone on to the next Life, rejoining her parents, Theodore and Eleanore Sancken, her sister, Almita Harms, her brother and his wife, Paul and Edith Sancken, her sister-in-law, Maxine Sancken, and her son-in-law, Lyman Sandy, who made the journey before her. A service of celebration of her life will be held at St. Luke Lutheran Church, 9100 Menaul NE, Albuquerque, NM on Saturday, February 9, 2013 at 11:00 a.m. A memorial concert will be held at a later date. Those wishing to honor her life may, in lieu of flowers, make contributions to St. Luke Lutheran Church in Albuquerque, Chamber Music Albuquerque, or the Great Southwest Council of the Boy Scouts of America.