Edith Schumer

Edith Westerfeld Schumer completed her remarkable life a few hours before dawn on January 14, 2024.

Edith was born in the spring of 1925 to Siegmund and Freida Westerfeld, in the German town of Stockstadt am Rhein. As one of only two Jewish families in Stockstadt, her parents sent 12 year-old Edith to the South Shore of Chicago to live with family and escape Nazi rule. Her parents were murdered in concentration camps.

Edith graduated from Hyde Park High School and served as a nurse for more than 65 years. When working with one doctor who she thought was handsome, she swiped his reflex hammer from his pocket so she'd have a reason to speak with him later. That doctor was William Schumer; he and Edith married in 1949 and settled in Skokie, Illinois. They had two children, Scott and Fern.

In the 1990s, Edith returned several times to Stockstadt with her daughter Fern to better understand and reconcile with her past. Edith also reconnected with her childhood friend, Gerda Katz of Seattle, 73 years after the two girls met on the cruise ship taking them from Hamburg, Germany, to New York City in 1938. Fern wrote several books about Edith's experiences and she became a fixture at her daughter's speaking events, answering questions and sharing her story. She also never missed celebrating Rosh Hashanah, Passover, or Hanukkah at her son's home.

In her final years, she found new happiness at the Mather Place in Wilmette. Known by some residents as "the Mayor," she loved Saturday afternoon bingo games. She exercised frequently in the gym, grew towering sunflowers in the garden, and enjoyed watching movies in the facility's theater. Her succinct reviews of the latest films became legendary - "it was not quiet on the western front" - was one of her celebrated appraisals.

Edith loved many things: dogs, pianos, Thanksgiving, jewelry, children, dollar stores, bagels and lox, gardening, red sports cars, hamburgers, gossip and laughing. Her laugh was an unmistakable cackle. She was known for her knitting and embroidery: she gifted many hand towels, baby hats, and winter mittens to family, friends, and the homeless. She was known just as famously, but was less admired, for her cooking.

She was also loved by many. Edith was known as "Oma" by her five grandchildren, Sam Schumer (Claudia), Jake Schumer (fiancée Nicky Chokran), Ross Chapman (Kate), Keith (Alexandra), and Isabelle (David Uberti). Her four great-grandchildren adored her and she adored them (Sydney, Melody, Harper, and Dylan).

Edith is survived by her children Scott Schumer (Lisa) and Fern Schumer Chapman (Bruce Wasser). Her only sibling Betty Zwang, who also fled Nazi Germany, died in Chicago in 1978. Edith's second husband, Lawrence "Larry" Breitkopf, died in 2018.

In the face of unspeakable adversity, she never lost her enthusiasm for life or her joyful spirit.

She taught us all the power of love, perseverance, and hope.

A memorial service will be held from 3 to 5 pm on Friday, January 26, at Burnstein Hall room at the Chicago Botanic Garden and is open to the public. In lieu of flowers, donations in Edith's name can be made to the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS), the organization that helped bring her to America.