Elwood Franklin "Frank" Schools

SCHOOLS, Elwood Franklin "Frank", 64, was called home to be with his Heavenly Father on December 7, 2008. He was born on February 13, 1944 in Warsaw, Va. at the site of the current Northern Neck State Bank to the late Arlington Foxwell Schools and Lola Croxton Schools. In the seventh grade, he noticed the girl of his dreams, Barbara Ellen Lewis, and they began their loving 44-year marriage shortly after graduation from high school. Two daughters, Karen and Tammy, had the great good fortune of being given these two wonderful people as parents. Elwood worked hard all his life, putting in a long day at the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Dahlgren, Va. and at home during the evenings and weekends, working the family farm that he so loved. He was a kind and generous man who often lent his strong arm to others in the community who needed assistance. He was a member of several community organizations and boards. Elwood was a lifelong member of Jerusalem Baptist Church where he served as a Deacon and Cemetery Trustee. He was a sensitive and thoughtful husband, father, and grandfather, who never forgot a special occasion. Though he did not go to college, he was a very intelligent man with an amazing retentive memory. He knew more about American history than many college professors. His children, and then grandchildren, became convinced at an early age that there was nothing he could not do, nothing he could not fix, and he never did anything to disillusion them. Left to cherish his memory are his wife, Barbara; his daughters and sons-in-law, Karen and David Tarter and Tammy and Nicholas Gompper, all of Falls Church, Va.; his five grandchildren, Sarah and Lydia Gompper and David, Cole, and Anna Tarter, who have lost his loving presence much too soon. Our hearts are breaking Pop, and we will never stop missing you. When God creates a new heaven and a new earth, we pray that our family can be reunited again and that we will once again feel your strong arms around us. Others who will also miss Elwood are his mother, Lola Schools; a sister, Ann Northern; his mother-in-law, Virginia Lewis; aunts, uncles, brother and sisters-in-law, nieces, nephews, cousins, and numerous friends. Funeral services will be held at 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, December 10, 2008 at Jerusalem Baptist Church, with interment in the church cemetery. The family will receive friends at the Welch Funeral Home, Marks Chapel from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday evening. Memorial contributions may be made to American Cancer Society, c/o Hilda Bronner, P.O. Box 65, Haynesville, Va. 22472. Online condolences may be made at: www.welchfuneralhomeva.com.
This obituary was originally published in the Richmond Times-Dispatch.