- Date Of Birth: July 21, 1931
- Date Of Death: May 17, 2007
- State: Michigan
William F. (Bill) Schulz, formerly of Three Oaks, passed away peacefully early on the morning of May 17th at Borgess Lee Memorial Hospital. He had been a resident of the Dowagiac Nursing Home for the past several years.
He was born in Three Oaks on July 21, 1931, to Max and Helen Schulz. Bill returned to the Three Oaks area in later years after teaching history and English at schools in Michigan and Indiana. He was a graduate of Michigan State University and was also a veteran of the Korean War, serving in the Army from 1951-1953. While serving, he took advantage of his R & R leave to visit Tokyo on several occasions.Bill was very well-read on a variety of topics, particularly histories of famous people and places.
He enjoyed the works of Hemingway and Jack London as well as Carl Sandburg. He read widely on the Civil War and military campaigns of both World Wars, and he had a love for collecting rare books as well, having almost 30 signed first editions in his collection. He loved to travel and visited Gettysburg, Jackson Hole, and many historic sites in Kentucky, Tennessee and Pennsylvania. He made use of his interest in photography to record many of those places and sites.
A particular interest he maintained over many years was keeping in touch with his Class of ’49 Three Oaks high school classmates, talking and visiting with them at get-togethers held at various locales around the area. Many of these were lifelong friendships that he treasured. He was heavily into the nostalgia of earlier, simpler times, and enjoyed “Little House on the Prairie” and the books of Gene Stratton Porter, having visited that author’s estate in Rome City, Indiana numerous times.
Bill was all about family, and he cherished each and every member. He was fiercely loyal and dedicated, and would quite literally give the shirt off his back to any family member in need. He particularly enjoyed his five nephews and had many lively and bantering discussions with them, the give and take escalating by the minute! His love of life, his personality and wit, as well as his absolute love of his family and friends will be missed so much by all those fortunate enough to have had him in their lives!
Bill is survived by a brother, Ken (Cheryl) Schulz of Benton Harbor, and a sister, Eileen (Anthony) Giorgio of Chicago. In addition he leaves four nephews, Karl and Kurt Schulz of South Haven and Kevin and Christopher Merrill of Chicago. One nephew, Steven Merrill, and his parents, Max and Helen Schulz, preceded him in death.
