Date : 29 Mar 1973
Location : St. Mary's Cemetery, Chilton, WI
COLBY
Funeral services were held at 10 a.m. Thursday in St. Mary's Catholic Church here for Mrs. Gertrude D. Schemmer, a resident of this community for many years, who died of a heart ailment Monday while on an extended visit to her son and daughter-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. John K. Schemmer, in Pawling, N.Y.
The Rev. Francis Rushman, pastor, officiated and burial was made in a family plot in Chilton, Wis.
The former Gertrude Dorothy Goessling was born Jan. 25, 1889 in Chilton. She attended the public schools in Chilton and later was graduated from Milwaukee State Teachers College. Prior to her marriage in 1914 to Dr. Anthony L. Schemmer, who preceded her in death in 1951, she taught in the public school system of Milwaukee. From the time of her marriage until her death she had been a resident of Colby, and until a few years ago she had always been active in community affairs.
In 1920 she organized the first Parent Teachers Association for the Colby High School and served as its first president. Thereafter in 1922 she organized the first Parent Teachers Associations in the neighboring towns of Abbotsford and Curtiss. She was one of the first chief rangers of the Colby Court of the Women's Catholic Order of Foresters. In 1943 she organized the Junior Court of the Foresters, and in 1953 she organized the St. Bernadette Court of the Women's Catholic Order of Foresters in Abbotsford.
Mrs. Schemmer was an active member of the Royal Neighbors in Colby. In 1947 she helped to organize the Blue Sky Garden Club in Colby and served as its first secretary, and she later served as president of the club from 1957 to 1960. In 1961 and in 1963 she organized the garden clubs in Stratford and Medford. From 1961 to 1962 she was district director of the Fox River Valley garden clubs and served as the district membership chairman from 1963 to 1967.
Mrs. Schemmer was appointed by the governor of Wisconsin to the committee to Keep Wisconsin Beautiful in 1958 and served on the committee until 1969 at which time she was chairman of the Fourth District. From 1951 to 1962 Mrs. Schemmer was a member of the board for the La Crosse Diocese of the National Catholic Council of Women.
She is survived by her son, John K. Schemmer, her grandson, John Anthony Schemmer M.D., and a number of cousins, nephews, nieces and grandnephews and grandnieces.
Marshfield News-Hera1d - Mar 30, 1973
