July 21, 1934 – February 16, 2021
Myrna was born at her beloved grandmother Ethyl Ramsey’s home in Gibbon, NE on Saturday, July 21, 1934; she died at her home of 63 years in Ralston, NE on Tuesday, February 16, 2021 with her husband holding her hand and surrounded by family.
Born just as the country was emerging out of the Great Depression, Myrna’s life changed significantly with the death of her 6-year-old brother, Clair, from whooping cough when she was just 3 years old. Soon after, she and her parents began living life together in an Air Stream trailer as her father’s work with Teleweld, Inc. had them following his railroad work. She lived in 38 states and attended 44 schools before spending her last two years and graduating from Kent State High School in Kent, Ohio.
Shortly after starting nursing school at Clarkson Hospital in 1953, she met a young pharmacist. Just a little more than 6 months later, on April 24, 1954, Myrna married James J Schutz, her husband of almost 67 years. Jim’s favorite story was to say, “she smiled at me and that was the end of me!” They raised six children together, with the eldest born in 1955 and the youngest in 1962. Myrna was a stay-at-home mom and a master of organization and efficiency. She was able to get six children out the door to school, get laundry done and the house cleaned, take pharmaceutical orders via phone to support Jim’s work as a Hospital Representative for Bristol Myers Squibb, and have a full dinner on the table with freshly baked deserts every evening at 5:00! She worked the same magic for the family’s annual vacation. She could pack eight people in a car, fill her large purse with bread, peanut butter, and treats, and pull out a new travel game just often enough to keep everyone laughing and happy. Remarkably, she also knew what made each of her children unique and was a champion for them every day of her life. An enduring message, remembered by all of her children is, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all!”
Jim and Myrna were founding and life-long members of St. Gerald’s Catholic Church in Ralston, NE. They were also avid Creighton Blue Jay fans, following boys’ and girls’ basketball with season passes for nearly 50 years. They belonged to bridge and pinocle clubs for nearly as many years. While Jim delighted in gardening and growing dahlias, Myrna, his perfect companion, loved nothing more than weeding. The bigger the weeds, the larger her pile, the happier she would be. She also enjoyed sewing, bowling, and reading.
While raising kids kept them busy in the early years of their married life, they didn’t miss a beat as they closed that chapter to begin a life of adventure. They delighted in traveling throughout the U.S. and to a myriad of countries across the world. Myrna encouraged her children and grandchildren to “travel as far as you can, as fast as you can, for as long as you can”—and their life modeled this. Jim and Myrna traveled to every state in the U.S. with the exception of Hawaii—and that was only because they didn’t believe anything could top Fiji! They chose different state fairs to travel to each year and looked for every other excuse to make regular road trips, from day trips to weeks at a time.
They flew to some of the most exotic places in the world, armed with travel books and no real plan. Their early strategy was to get established and then follow people’s suggestions and their own interests, sometimes staying somewhere for a single day, other times for a week or more. In later years they traveled with small tour groups. The places they traveled include: South Africa, Lesotho, Kenya, Botswana, Namibia, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Morocco, the Galapagos Islands, Peru, Ecuador, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Sumatra, China, Croatia, Estonia, Czechoslovakia, Bosnia, Russia, Turkey, Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, England, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Austria, Mexico, Panama, Costa Rica, Caribbean Islands, Bermuda, and most of the provinces of Canada—Quebec, Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward.
Family loved to hear their many tales. There were harrowing tales of paddling with bare hands in the piranha infested waters of the Amazon after a boat’s motor failed, being mugged on the streets of Santiago, Chile and Myrna jumping on the perpetrators back to join Jim in fighting them off, and Myrna climbing in the window of a race car to be raced around the track for a few circuits at 160 miles per hour. There were also fun stories of people opening up their closed restaurant just to cook them and their travel companions a lobster dinner, and a man they enchanted on a plane helping them get a taxi to travel to his hotel when they landed in Brazil and then giving them the use of his Portuguese speaking driver the next day for sight-seeing.
The addition of sons-in-law, daughters-in-law, grandchildren, great grandchildren, and family pets continually expanded Myrna’s seemingly endless capacity for love of family. With her, family came first, always, and last. She was an active fan of every family members’ activities and knew each one’s spirit and interests. When all the kids and grandkids were invited to help celebrate her 60th birthday at her daughter’s home in Texas, she was surprised and delighted that everyone dropped everything to make the trip to celebrate her. Family loved to indulge her, almost as much as she looked over and took care of everyone within her sphere of love. Teddy bears, stuffed animals that sing and dance, and anything sweet—ice cream and chocolates being favorites—were count-on-able ways to her heart!
Myrna’s life journey over the last decade + of her life included a memory increasingly being lost to Alzheimer’s disease. Many of those closest to her weren’t aware of this until considerable time had passed as she created coping skills, and as she and Jim learned new ways to manage their lives. Long after many would have withdrawn from life, they continued to travel, enjoy outings, and keep life filled with fun. Following Jim’s stroke in November of 2017, Myrna spent two years in a memory care community. The entire family breathed a sigh of relief when she was able to return home and be with Jim, supported by 24-7 care, in November of 2019. Thank you to her many angel caregivers for making her challenging last years a little cozier and more comfortable.
In the brightest of times and the darkest days, Myrna graced us all with her smile, her laugh, a twinkle in her eye and, most especially, her wink! Even when her memory was gone, she would light up when she saw her loved ones. She knew we were one of hers and we knew she was ours!
Myrna was preceded in death by her father, (Robert) Earl McNair, her mother, Gladys McNair, and her brother, Clair. She is survived by her husband of 66 years, James J. Schutz, and 6 children: Jim (Jane) Schutz, Terry Schutz, Susan (Dave) Harycki, Deb (Jeff) Nosekabel, Diane (Dale) Kinney, and Mike (Judy) Schutz; her grandchildren: Stacy Rosman, Amy (Todd) Mach, Alison Schutz, Adam (Ally) Schutz, Danny Schutz, Jamie Schutz, Stephen Schutz, K-Lee (Ben) Thompson, Mikah Hart, Jake (Lindsay) Moore, David Kinney, Scott Kinney, Mark (Jessica) Kinney, Rachel (Brian) Kocol; and 19 great grandchildren (+2 on the way).
VISITATION: Sunday, February 21, 2021 at 6:00 pm at Kahler-Dolce Mortuary, 441 No Washington St, Papillion, Nebraska with Vigil Service at 7:00 pm. MASS OF CHRISTIAN BURIAL will be held on February 22, 2021 at 10:00 am at St. Gerald’s Catholic Church, 96th & Q St, Omaha, Nebraska. Interment to follow at Evergreen Memorial Park Cemetery, 2300 South 78th Street, Omaha, NE. CDC guidelines will be observed. The funeral mass will also be live streamed at stgerald.org.
Memorials may be directed to: St. Gerald’s Catholic Church, the Alzheimer’s Association, St. Jude’s Hospital, or a charity of your choice.
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