Leola M. Schueler, 98, of Columbia, died on Sept. 30, 2020, at Mercy Hospital South, St. Louis. She was born May 31, 1922, in Columbia, daughter of the late Phillip J. and Anna M. (nee Naumann) Ludwig. She was married to the late Herbert C. Schueler. He had passed away Jan.4, 2016.

Leola’s greatest concern in her final days was that her family, including Wendy (Schueler) and Bill Norman, Dave and Anne (Lambert) Norman, Gerhardt, Gabriel. and Sebastian Norman, the Schueler family, the Ludwig family and her many friends, stay healthy and safe. Her final wishes, as her concerns had been throughout her life, were for the welfare and happiness of others. Her spirit, her love, and her faith, remained strong through the end, emphasizing the values by which she lived 98 years.

Leola was born and raised in Columbia, graduating from Columbia High School and moving only lately to the Oak Hill nursing facility in Waterloo. She was the last surviving member of the Class of 1940. A lifelong resident of Monroe County, she was best known through much of her life as the wife of the late Herb Schueler, mother of their daughter Wendy, and as the woman who made their lives comfortable and in many ways possible. She worked briefly as a dental hygienist, and served nearly 70 years as a homemaker before reluctantly retiring to charm the nurses and staff at Oak Hill.

Leola married Herb on Oct. 2, 1948, at St. Paul UCC in Columbia, where she attended since she was a child and where her legacy remains in lasting gifts and eternal memories from her lifetime of fellowship. Her faith, friends, and family, sustained her in quiet strength through the years.

Leola always made time to talk with friends and relatives, sharing a laugh or a sorrow. She made new friends of everyone she met, creating a legacy of love and inspiration that spans generations and time zones. She “adopted” many of her daughter’s and grandson’s friends as her “kids and grandkids,” growing a family of love far larger than even the one she built of blood. She cared deeply for the nurses and CNAs at Oak Hill and enjoyed sharing in their lives–always ready with a joke or grandmotherly story.

At 93 years old she flew to Portland, Maine, to visit her grandchildren and great grandchildren on the coast. Doubt about undertaking the trip hardly crossed her mind. It was with that spirit of confidence and optimism, assured by faith, that she faced nearly a century of life’s joys and challenges.

Everyone deserves a special friend in their lives who is madly, irrationally, exuberantly in love with them, and forever cheers them on. Leola was this person for her daughter, her son-in-law and grandson, for her great grandsons, and for many others as well. We join her friends in grieving our loss, celebrating her life, and carrying her spirit with us forever.

Surviving are her daughter Wendy (Bill) Norman of Columbia; grandson David (Dr. Annie) Norman of Cape Elizabeth, Maine; great-grandchildren, Gary, Gabriel and Sebastian Norman; special family Sara Haney and her children, Emily, Ethan, and Ben and Casey and Vinita Strubberg, along with other relatives and friends.

She was also preceded in death by her brothers Wilbur ‘Whips’ Ludwig, Hawert ‘Ham’ Ludwig and Clifford H. Ludwig.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all services will be private. Leola will be interred in the Evangelic St. Paul Cemetery, Columbia.

In lieu of customary remembrances, the family requests with gratitude that memorial contributions be directed to: St. Paul United Church of Christ 127 N. St. Paul, Columbia.

Lawlor Funeral Home, Columbia, handled arrangements.