Sylvia Eddle Schumacher

Sylvia Eddle Schumacher was born May 23, 1933, and passed away Oct. 23, 2023. Sylvia was born in Long Beach, CA, due to her military family’s location at that time. She was present when Pearl Harbor was bombed. Sylvia graduated from La Center High School. She met Jack Schumacher at a grange dance and they were married shortly after. She became a dairy farm wife near Battle Ground. With all the duties such as canning, pickling, harvesting chickens (not her favorite job!), driving farm trucks, picking and selling filberts. When they purchased their first tree farm, she set up Christmas tree selling right in the front yard. Business was brisk! She moved on to raising and selling beautiful Springer and Cocker Spaniel pups. She would put an ad in the Oregonian newspaper, then pack them up on Sunday and head to her parent’s house in Portland to sell them.
She was a member of the Silver Star Women’s Club and was involved with creating the first Lady Bug Bazaar. Sylvia was a member of the Clark County Tree Farm Association. She and Jack went on the be awarded United States Regional Tree Farmers of the year in 1976. She always had the coffee on and cookies for anyone that wanted to learn about tree farming.
The family get-togethers were very important to her. When a date was nearing, she was on the phone getting all family members lined out. Sylvia was such a wonderful cook _ those huckleberry pies were amazing!
Sylvia is survived by daughters, Diane/Steve, Linda/John, and Jane/Gary; grandson, Ryan; granddaughters, LaRae and Sadie; great-grandson, Lane; her brother, Bruce Prater; and sister, Shirley Spooner. She was preceded in death by her husband, Jack; and parents, Belma and Isabelle Prater.
A celebration of life will be held Wednesday, Nov. 8, from 12 to 3 p.m. at the Battle Ground Community Center. Service will be at 1 p.m. You are welcome to tell stories about Sylvia or write them down and they will be read.