Lucille Schwartz

March 22, 2017, the Lord welcomed a good Christian woman. Our mom, Lucille Clara Schwartz, was born on September 9, 1915, at the north end of Monroe Street in New Holstein and passed away at the Atrium nursing home on the south end of Monroe Street. Her family was pleased to have a girl after four boys, so Lucille came to be called Girlie Gartzke by many and for many years. As a young woman, Lucille was a switchboard operator in New Holstein. On December 7, 1940, she married Oliver Schwartz. They had three children. Kathleen (Gary) Wauters, Hobart, Wayne (deceased) and Jean (Jim) Kopecky, Evansville. Lucille had a great love for her children and she brought them up to love the Lord, teaching them about Him and always making sure they got to Sunday School and church. She spent most of her married life in Howards Grove, where she enjoyed being a homemaker. Lucille was very caring and generous. If she had two dollars, and someone needed one dollar, she gladly gave it. In her younger days, Lucille enjoyed walking including walking around Elkhart Lake many times. She spent many hours playing her piano, alone and with her daughters. She enjoyed playing games with her children and grandchildren and reading, especially her Bible.
Lucille is survived by her daughters and sons-in-law, eleven grandchildren, two great grandsons, also four step-grandchildren, ten step-great-grandchildren and five step-great-great-grandchildren. Lucille was a faithful member of Trinity Lutheran Church, Howards Grove for much of her life.
She was preceded in death by her parents, Julius and Emma Gartzke, her husband, Oliver, brothers, Elmer, Walter, Albert and Harry and her beloved son, Wayne.
Kathleen and Jean have high praise for the Atrium family who for fourteen years cared for and treated Mom as they would their own mother. Also a heartfelt thank you to Christine, NP, and the Heartland Hospice group for their skilled care and concern during Lucille's final days.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Trinity Lutheran Church or the Alzheimer's Association.
A funeral service for Lucille will be held on Saturday, April 1, 2017, at 12:00 p.m. at Zimmer's Westview Funeral and Cremation Care Center (Hwy 42 & JJ, Howards Grove) with the Rev. David Laabs officiating. Friends may call on Saturday, at the funeral home, from 11:00 a.m. until the time of service. Interment will follow at the Kiel City Cemetery. Please visit www.zimmerfuneralhome.com to sign the guest book.