Emma S. Gargus

Gargus Emma S. Gargus, née Schmidt, died peacefully on April 19, 2016 at the age of 100 after a short battle with liver cancer, surrounded by family. Born December 5, 1915 in Amherst, OH to Gustav and Mary Schmidt, Emma was the fifth of ten children. At age eight she met her childhood sweetheart, John Gargus. In 1936, few years after graduating from Lorain High School, they married. Apart from a brief period in Rhode Island during World War II, Emma spent her working years in Lorain, where she and John ran a photography studio and raised two children, John Jay and Jacqueline. Emma was very involved in the community. She was an active member of Christ Lutheran Church, where the five-part harmonies of the Schmidt family formed the core of the church choir, and First Lutheran Church, where she was a Sunday school teacher. She also served as PTA president, room mother, Quota Club president, and Girl Scout leader to her nieces and daughter alike. Camping trips, nature hikes, and especially songfests are memories that her scouts and family will never forget. In 1977 Emma and John retired to Sun City, AZ, where Emma's outgoing personality, interest in the world and natural charm soon connected her to a wide circle of new friends and activities, including golf, swimming, dancing, bridge, ceramics, hiking, choir, and foraging for mushrooms. John and Emma travelled widely during this period, visiting Europe, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, the Caribbean, and most of the United States. In 2002 Emma and John moved back to Ohio to reside with their daughter and granddaughter in Upper Arlington, where Emma enjoyed gardening, bridge and dancing at the senior center until she was 98. Most of all she loved to spend time with her family, especially her grandchildren. She was vigorous and full of fun until almost the very end. In the summer of 2015 she was especially delighted to lead the singing at a family reunion, with over a hundred people in attendance. She will be remembered for her talent for making people feel welcome and important, her ease in conversation, her constant effort to be kind and thoughtful, her unflappable good cheer, her beautiful singing voice, the twinkle in her eye, and her sweetness. Emma was preceded in death by John, her loving husband of 72 years, her brothers John, Andrew, Russell, George, and Gustav, her sisters Mary Paysor Albright, Nancy Stem and Eleanor Ziga. She is survived by her sister, Betty Leitenberger of Lakeland, FL; and her children, Dr. John Jay Gargus (wife, Ellen Dellis) of Irvine, CA and Prof. Jacqueline Gargus of Upper Arlington, OH; and three grandchildren, Andrew Gargus of New York City, Matthew Gargus of Los Angeles, and Emma Gargus of Chicago. Emma's remains were cremated in a private ceremony and her ashes will be immured at the Ohio Western Reserve National Cemetery, with those of her husband. A memorial dinner will be held in her honor in Lorain, OH at a later date. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Emma's name to Christ Lutheran Church, 4501 Clinton Ave., Lorain, OH 44055. Arrangements entrusted to Ohio Cremation & Memorial Society / RODMAN-SNYDER MEMORIAL CENTER.