Family Happenings

Family Happenings

My wife Gina and I have been married now for over 50 years and are the proud parents of two fine boys. Of course, they are grown men now and have families of their own. We lived in the beautiful San Bernardino mountain village of Crestline, California for 20 years during their school years at Rim of The World Unified School District. We were also fortunate enough as well to be able to spend the next 15 years in the glorious High Sierra village of Mammoth Lakes, California. We still spend time at the beaches of Southern California and hiking the trails of Mammoths back country. We will always consider Mammoth home even though we now reside in beautiful Reno, Nevada not far from Lake Tahoe.

Our oldest son, Matthew, is in the real estate business in Rancho Cucamonga, Ca. and his beautiful wife Yvette is an educator. They have three gorgeous daughters, Mariah, Gina and Lanie. Mariah is a dog lover and currently studying to be a veterinarian. Gina is a 2020 graduate of Cal State University Santa Barbara. She is an accomplished dancer of many styles and currently studying for her real estate license. Lanie is a student at Mount Sac College and an accomplished runner on the track and cross -country teams.

Our youngest son, David, has a thriving landscaping business in Reno and his beautiful wife Amy works for a computer service company. They have a son, Luke age 14 and a beautiful daughter, Dylan, age 11 We are having fun spending as much time as possible in our retirement with our kids and grandkids. Our whole family thrives on being outdoors in God’s magnificent creation doing the things that we like to do as a family including running, hiking, surfing, skiing, fishing, bike riding and taking lots of pictures of our adventures.

San Diego Rock N' Roll Marathon

This is yet another favorite of mine. I have run his race many times but what makes it especially awesome is four times 
(1988, 2007, 2011, 2012.) 
  
I raised money for leukemia research for Team in Training. Team in Training is an endurance sports organization that has a total program for running and raising money. I have always ran in memory of my brother Ned who died of leukemia at the age of 6 in 1947. 

I never knew Ned as I was born in 1948. In Neds day virtually everyone who contracted this horrid disease died from it. Back then there were no treatments. Ned was taken to the hospital every few weeks for blood transfusions but in time it just didn't help any more and he died on July 5,1941. 

He was a fighter and I know if he had lived he would have been an ultra-marathoner for sure.Here are some startling statistics: More than 895,000 Americans are hoping for a cure...Hodgkin Lymphoma is the 6th most common cancer in the U.S....The 5 year survival rate for myeloma is just 35%...Leukemia causes more deaths than any other cancer among children and young adults...every 4 minutes someone new is diagnosed...every 10 minutes someone dies. 

Since it's inception in 1988 the Team in Training arm of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society has raised over 2.2 Billion dollars to benefit leukemia patients and their families. Leukemia is a type of cancer that affects the blood and bone marrow, the spongy center of bones where our blood cells are formed. The disease develops when blood cells produced in the bone marrow grow out of control. The four most common types of leukemia are: acute myeloid leukemia (AML) ; acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) ; chronic myeloid leukemia ; (CML) ; and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). More information is available at www.LLS.org Ned Schemenauer was honored as a Team in Training Honoree of the Greater Sacramento area / Northern Nevada chapter of Team in Training for the summer 2012 season at the Rock N' Roll Marathon in San Diego, California.
Ned's Story

My Mom

I'd like to tell you a bit about our mom. Helen Margaret Swartz was born on May 26, 1912 in Toledo, Ohio to Fred L. Swartz and Goldie Mitchell. I always thought Goldie was a nickname. She had an older brother, Donald who was quite a bit older than her which I think made her feel like an only child.

All she ever wanted was a large family. I think that's what first attracted her to our dad-he had a wonderful large family. She married Arthur Schemenauer on April 17, 1933. I've seen her refer many times that they were married 50 years and 42 days. She was proud of the fact that she stood by her promise to love him through better and worse. We were all proud of her, too. Her grown life was definitely circled around her family. I never realized we were poor growing up. Mom always made do with the little resources she had and we always had everything we needed. She was active in our school's Mother's Club and church and even after we were all grown up, she continued to be active in social clubs at the Mobile Home park, even as president for several terms.

One of the things I remember about mom was her contagious laugh. Once she started laughing, the whole room would have to join in. Some people don't like change-mom thrived on change. Ever so often we would come home from school and she would have changed all the furniture in the house-even switching which rooms would be ours. She had lots of energy and was a hard worker. I don't ever remember her being sick. Now I realize that is because when she was sick she went on about her business like usual. She didn't "call in sick" and go back to bed. She got up, made our lunches, cooked our breakfast, kept us moving and got us to school. Our house was always spotless-she even washed down the walls a couple times each year.

Once we were all grown, she continued being the best mom. Always supportive and encouraged us to follow our dreams. She had the opportunity to give each of us a surprise birthday party and even got us all from California to go to Kansas for Carol's surprise 50th birthday. We had the privilege of giving her a surprise birthday party last year for her 90th birthday. She always enjoyed our family get-togethers.

Our family consists of Richard and his wife Esther, Carol and her husband Merle, Dan and his wife Sara, Tom and his wife Gina and daughter Mary. Passing before her was her little boy, Ned who was 5 years old when he died of leukemia and Mary's husband, Jerry. She has 10 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.

I'd like to conclude by quoting some words she had left in her will. It was so typical of her to still be worried about money: "I leave no insurance for my burial. My children will have to pay my expense of leaving this earth. I'm sorry! I do not have much to leave my children and grandchildren in moneys or material things. My hopes are that you all will always be as you all are now, 1997, my wonderful, beautiful children who I have always been so proud of each and every one of you! Please keep in touch with each other all the rest of your lives. If need be, help each other. I love you all very much."

We love you, Mom.
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