Obituaries

Sheila Mary Schmusker

Photo of Sheila Mary Schmusker Photo of Sheila Mary Schmusker
Sheila Mary Harris Schmucker, 79, beloved wife of Col. Franz Schmucker (USAF Ret.), passed gently from this life on Tuesday, October 7th, 2014 at her Jacksonville residence. Her final moments were lovingly attended by her family. Memorial services will be held on Friday October 10, 2014 at Griffin Leggett Rest Hills Funeral Home located at 7724 Landers Road in North Little Rock. A reception will follow at the same location after committal services at the Arkansas State Veterans Cemetery in North Little Rock, 1501 West Maryland Avenue, North Little Rock, Ark. The family will receive family and friends from 6-8 p.m. Thursday October 9, 2014 at the Funeral Home. Sheila was born at Boscombe Hospital on September 4th, 1935 in Bournemouth, England and grew up there on the English south coast. She was the daughter of the late Walter Hugh Harris and the late Mabel Kathleen Hillier Harris. A graduate of Charminster School, Sheila attended Bournemouth Municipal College and the Bournemouth Academy of Hair Dressers and finished her hairdressing apprenticeship in 1954. She pursued her career as a hairdresser in Bournemouth and in London, England until her marriage. On October 11th, 1958, Sheila married the love of her life, Franz, at the Church of the Sacred Heart in Bournemouth. Their life together was special as it thrived 56 years on this Earth through all the challenges military life brings as well as the everyday challenges of marriage including a growing family, home purchases and relocations, wartime combat assignments, military promotions, unaccompanied overseas assignments, and then retirement, children's weddings, and the arrival of grandchildren. Upon her marriage, Sheila became an Air Force Officer's wife and was soon the mother of two children. She shouldered the exceptional challenges our nation's military wives have always faced in supporting their husbands' unique calling to defend freedom. When Franz was assigned to Charleston, they moved the growing household from England to the USA. Subsequent military assignments took them back to Europe, this time to Germany. When Franz later deployed to Southeast Asia, Sheila moved the household back to England and raised her daughters as a solo parent - hoping every day that Franz would return safely from the Vietnam War to her side. She then followed him to assignments back in the United States and Jacksonville, Arkansas became their home. Sheila was proud to become an American Citizen in 1976. As the children grew, Sheila rejoiced in their successes and supported them in their defeats, always providing the guidance and teachings mothers everywhere do every day. When her children married, Sheila welcomed and loved their spouses as family members - granting them full access to her boundless heart. Her grandchildren found unconditional love and unwavering support in their "GiGi." These grandchildren were the very special apples of her eye and she took great pride in each of them. Sheila also enjoyed her hobbies: oil painting, watercolor, and eventually rubber stamp card making. She shared her joy in stamping with everyone who knew her; she also loved to play bridge and enjoyed internet surfing, games at gatherings of family, and work on her cards. She taught landscape painting for over 20 years at Barbara's Tole Shoppe, formerly on Rodney Parham Road in Little Rock. She was a Founding Member of the Little Rock RSVP (Rubber Stampers, Visionary People) Club where her art and her eye for color were an inspiration. Sheila also participated in many bridge clubs at Little Rock Air Force Base and more recently with friends at the Jacksonville Senior Center. Throughout her life, Sheila clung to those she loved - no one more than her best friend and closest confidant through times good and bad-her husband, Franz. She will be missed terribly by him and her family, but we rejoice in the memories built and the love she shared with each of us. We are all far better people for having the rare privilege and honor of knowing and loving Sheila Mary Harris Schmucker Sheila is survived by her husband, Franz and her daughters Nancye K. McCowan, M. D. (Timothy C. McCowan, M.D.) and Tracey A. Schmucker, M.D. (Jeffrey D. Utecht) as well as her grandchildren, Sean D. Riddle (Tracey); Hannah K. McCowan (Nancye); Ryan D. Utecht (Tracey) and her sister, Molly Jean Harris McKenzie (Ross) and sister-in-law, Margaret Mary Harris. She is pre-deceased by her brother, David J. Harris. In lieu of flowers the family requests memorials be made to the charity of one's choice. Please share your memories of Shelia and encouraging words of comfort for her family in her online guestbook: www.griffinleggettresthills.com.

Published October 9, 2014

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