Unfortunately, both Mom and Dad's health began deteriorating in their 80's. Mom passed away October 11, 2013 and we brought Dad back to Wisconsin. He did not want to leave Florida, but it was necessary to keep him close to family. He moved into Sterling House, now called Brookdale North, an assisted living very near me. He was content there, and the staff (and some of the female residents,I suspect) all loved him! His kindness and good humor never wavered, and he'd come up with an appropriate and funny quip when one least expected it. We will be forever grateful to everyone at Brookdale for their patience, kindness and loving care. And grateful also to Hospice Alliance who became involved in September, allowing him to stay at Brookdale and giving him wonderful care, also.

     Dad was interested in sports of all kinds and played tennis and golf late into life. He was a very good golfer and had at least 2 holes-in-one. My parents belonged to the Maplecrest Country Club during their Kenosha years and the Rotonda Golf Club in Florida. Dad played in leagues and made many great friends while golfing. His league at Rotonda was called the Sewing Circle!

     Dad was a lifelong Cubs fan. He was a Packers fan until they moved to Florida, and then he was a Tampa Bay Buccaneer fan.

     Traveling was very important to Mom, and she got Dad into it, too. In 1960, they rented our house out for the summer, and we took a three month trip to California and back. It was awesome! Our family took many trips to different parts of the US. while we were growing up. Over the years, Dad and Mom also went on several cruises and made many trips to Florida and Las Vegas. They also accompanied us when we took a girls' soccer team to Scandanavia to play in the Dana Cup in Denmark. After retiring, they traveled even more extensively, including taking their granddaughter on a European tour for her high school graduation. Then they returned to different parts of Europe, visited China and Russia and cruised Alaska, often taking Todd with them. For Todd's 50th Birthday, they coordinated a trip to Great Britain that 13 family members and friends enjoyed. And they always found the most fun and unique gifts to bring back for their children and grandchildren.

     Dad grew up in a family that loved playing cards and my parents really enjoyed card playing, gambling and casinos. They usually fared very well. Dad won two $20,000 jackpots over the years! They also participated in various sports pools regularly. And Dad played poker with the guys every Wednesday at The Hills.
     
     Friends were very important to Dad and Mom. They loved entertaining and threw wonderful, fun parties. They also enjoyed dining out, meeting with and making new friends at Bartley House and other restaurants and taverns wherever they happened to be.

     Dad loved playing the piano. He favored the boogie woogie, pop songs and show tunes. One tune I remember him playing is "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes." They left their piano with me when they moved to Florida, but Dad missed it and bought a really nice electric piano. 

     Not really a hobby or interest, but Dad was a great dresser. Clothes were important to him and he always looked great. He had quite a full closet!

     Dad retired in1989. And although they had many good friends and good times in Kenosha and Paddock Lake, my parents were excited about moving to Florida for the winter. They returned to Paddock Lake for the first summer after retirement, but decided to stay in Florida full-time starting the next year.

     Their first home was at the Riverhouse Condos in Rotonda West, south of Sarasota. Soon, they found the condo too small for their living and entertainment needs and bought a house which looked out on the 11th hole of the Hills Golf Course. It was a 3 bedroom house with a large lanai and lovely pool. There were orange and grapefruit trees in the backyard and Dad prided himself on his fresh-squeezed juice every morning! In 2008, they needed to downsize and moved to a beautiful, new 2 bedroom condo in the Nature's Trail complex on the opposite side of Rotonda.

     Dad and Mom only had 1 dog. He was a toy poodle named Cyrano, and they loved him very much. Dad would take him out in the canoe and boat at Paddock Lake. Once the canoe tipped and they both had to swim half-way across the lake to get to shore! They had him for 13 years.

     We started spending summers at a cottage at Paddock Lake starting in 1970. Dad had a small motorboat and a canoe. He enjoyed pulling us on waterskis behind the boat. They had lots of great parties "at the lake!" They summered there until 1990 when they moved to Florida full-time.

      Dad is survived by a daughter, Lynn, and her husband, Rock Jurvis. They have 2 daughters. Bryanna is married to Craig Royal. Their children are Carson, Melia, Cannon and Knox. Megan is married to Jake Pasterski. Their children are Ivan and Inga. We're so pleased that Dad got to know all of his great-grandchildren before he passed. He's also survived by his son, Todd. We've all had wonderful times with Dad and Mom over the years. We'll be forever grateful for their love and boundless generosity.

     Dad touched many lives positively as a teacher, and many more as a coach.  He started as a basketball and softball coach at Genoa City High School. At Bradford he was an Assistant Coach under Chuck Jaskwhich (who had led Notre Dame to a National Championship for Knute Rockne in 1930.) He then became the Head Sophmore Coach until moving to Tremper in 1964 to be the Head Football Coach there.

     Verne was named the Big Eight's Coach of the Year his first year at Tremper. Under his watch, Tremper won Conference Championships in '70, '71 and '73, after the Southshore Conference was formed. His undefeated 1973 team was ranked 9th in the state. He also had the pleasure and privilege of coaching his own son during the '71 and '72 seasons. After 23 years of coaching, he retired in 1974. He stated his coaching philosophy in an article in the 1982 Bradford Yearbook:

"I hope and feel that I helped instill in many young athletes a feeling of pride in a job well done and the importance of teamwork to get the job done. Also that, important as winning is, if they lost, but put forth maximum effort, they didn't really lose."

     In those days, the high schools played at Lakefront Stadium (the marina is there now.) When younger, I would follow the team as they headed to the locker room and listen at the door. Dad always kept his cool, and never once then (or ever!) did I hear him swear.

     In 2008, Dad was given the Chuck Jaskwhich Lifetime Coaching Achievement Award. It was a very proud moment for all of us! His name is etched on the memorial at Anderson Field.

     Dad also coached tennis. His 1957 Bradford team took fourth at State, and his 1964 club team at Tremper won the Conference title and took third at State. He also spent many summers teaching tennis to all ages for the Recreation Department.

     Dad's teaching career started at Genoa City High School. He taught Business and Physical Education. He also kept the school's accounts and coached basketball and softball. 

     The next year he moved to Bradford High School in Kenosha where he taught Business and coached football.

     In 1964, he moved to the newly opened Tremper High School in Kenosha, again teaching Business and coaching football. However, his later years of teaching brought new challenges. After 30 years of teaching Business exclusively, there was a need for a part-time History teacher. Having minored in History, Dad agreed to teach 3 Modern World History classes. He said, "It's like starting out as a new teacher without experience."

      Dad was featured in a story in the 1982 Bradford yearbook. Following are quotes from students:

"Mr. Schmale is firm, but fair."

"Mr. Schmale always seems relaxed and never loses his temper. He would be the ideal teacher of any subject."

"Mr. Schmale is sparkling, bouncing and alive. He's always smiling." (Truth be told, I've never thought of my Dad as being bouncy!)

"Mr. Schmale is a flexible person who is adaptable to changing times in education."

     In the same article Dad shares his personal philosophies about teaching:

"I expect certain behavior from my students as far as conduct and work are concerned, but I also feel that they can expect productive teaching on my part. I also feel that a sense of humor is important in teaching, and I attempt to treat the students as adults and individuals."

"I subscribe to the philosophy that 'if you're through changing or learning, you're through.'"

     Dad retired after 38 years in the classroom in 1989.

     Dad, like a lot of men his generation, had the opportunity to attend college through the G.I. Bill, and he took advantage of it. He was the only one of his siblings to go to college. He attended Whitewater and received a degree in Business Education. He also played football for Whitewater. During his senior year, Whitewater was undefeated, and Dad was selected all-conference guard.

     After marrying, he returned to college (UW-Madison) summers to earn his Master's Degree.

Dad and Mom met in August of 1947 at Delavan Gardens, where they danced all night.  When Dad found out she was only 17 (he was 21), he told her to call him on her 18th birthday as she was currently "jailbait." Mom managed to run into him on her birthday, and ditched her date! He told her later he'd seen her around (she worked at the Pophouse) and told his friends she was the girl he was going to marry.

     On their first date, they ran into his mother at the restaurant and Mom told her the same thing. I guess it was pretty much "love at first sight!"

     They became engaged right after Dad graduated from college in January of 1951. They had gone out to dinner to celebrate the graduation. While holding hands under the table, Dad went on and on about how he didn't have any money, yet. Mom thought he was trying to get out of marrying her after she'd waited so long for him to finish school. She pulled her hand away, and there was the engagement ring she had admired in a jewelry store window on her finger! It was too large, and she hadn't felt it there. She couldn't wait to go to Buffa's, their favorite bar, and show it off!

     During the preceding years, when people asked when they were going to marry, they'd always say, "June 31st." Of course, there's only 30 days in June! They did then set the date for June 30, 1951.

    After their wedding, they had a wonderful honeymoon. They went to Washington D.C. and Niagra Falls, coming home with $.35 in their pocket!

     Dad joined the Navy on January 26, 1945. He was only 17 at the time. He did basic training at Great Lakes and Radio training in Madison. Then he went to Sasebo, Japan, as a Radioman Third Class. The war was over and his job was to help repatriate Japanese soldiers. He told a story about feeling sorry for some Japanse soldiers while working kitchen duty. He told them they could each have a piece of a cake he had baked. When he wasn't looking, they ate the whole thing! 
     Another time he took a Jeep up into the mountains and the brakes went out. The only way they were able to stop was to run into a tree!
     He was honorably discharged on July 9th, 1946.

 

     Dad and Uncle Wayne had their own cars as teens. Wayne's was a 1917 Maxwell and Dad's , a 1926 Model Ford Roadster. They were convertibles and the boys painted them red and white so people wouldn't know which was which. The accelerators were hand levers, and the clutches and brakes, floor pedals. They had to crank them to start. They had a ball with those cars!
    Dad is pictured here with some of his nieces and nephews in his car.
 

     Dad's brothers and sisters were June, Bob, Beverly, Betty and Wayne. The family was very close-knit right through adulthood. Being only 18 months apart in age, he and Wayne were especially close, even though Wayne fed him sand while playing in a sandbox and got him to slide down the attic stairs using a card table for a sled!
     Dad really enjoyed traveling to Lebanon, Illinois, to visit his aunts. It was a long trip and he and Wayne would sit on two little stools on the back seat floor. No mini-vans in those days!
     Dad was the only one to move away from Beloit permanently, so we spent many weekends traveling there to visit with the family, which we kids loved. There were many nieces and nephews, so we had many cousins to play with! And the adults always had card games going.

     (Dad is survived by his sister, Betty Dresselhaus, and many nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents, sisters and brothers-in-law, June and Richard (Dick) Magill, and Beverly and Harold (Perk) Perkins; brothers and sisters-in-law, Bob and Gen Schmale, and Wayne and Dee Schmale; and brother-in-law, Milt Dresselhaus.)

    Dad was born in Beloit, Wisconsin, on June 2, 1927, to Clarence and Daisy Schmale. He was the youngest of six children. With 2 older brothers and 3 older sisters he was, no doubt, very spoiled and very loved. They lived on a farm for part of his childhood, and his sister, Betty, has fond memories of playing together in the woods there.
     As a 5 year old, he nearly lost a hand and foot when a hay mower ran into him while he was hiding in a haystack with his brother Wayne. He always remembered the nurse who took care of him, because her name was Rooster Prudence and she'd give him a nickel every time he came in to see the doctor! He would tell people he got the scars in Japan. The scars ran almost halfway across his wrist and ankle. We kids were fascinated by the story!