Sylvan Theodore Walterscheid

Sylvan Theodore Walterscheid passed away on August 20, 2023 at the age of 86 in Muenster, Texas.
On August 24, 2023, a vigil and rosary were held at Sacred Heart Catholic Church. Deacon Gary Endres presided and the eulogy for Sylvan was given by his son, Greg Walterscheid. Sylvan's Saturday Morning Prayer Group sang "The Lift Up Song" for the closing.
The funeral mass was held on August 25, 2023. Reverend Joe Keating officiated the mass along with Reverend Ken Robinson and Reverend Kyle Walterscheid as concelebrants. Altar servers included Gus Ganzon, Luke Hesse, and Isaac White. Music was provided by the beautiful voices of Christy Hesse, Jenny, Jack, Emily and Grace White and Trish Villa. They were accompanied by Rose Ganzon on the flute, Leslie Eddleman on the cello, Cathy Strabala on the violin and Jonathon Toni on the piano. Readings for the mass were given by granddaughters Isabella Walterscheid and Hilary Brandau.
Grandsons Eric Walterscheid, Isac Walterscheid, Seth Swirczynski, Ryan Swirczynski and nephews, Ron Felderhoff, Larry Felderhoff and Jesse Walterscheid served as pallbearers. Honorary pallbearers were the Saturday Morning Prayer Group.
The graveside service was held at Sacred Heart Cemetery with Father Joe Keating officiating. Sylvan was buried per his request in a handmade wooden coffin built by his son, Danny Walterscheid. The Saturday Morning Prayer Group sang "The Lift Up Song".
Sylvan was born south of Muenster on May 11, 1937 to Adolph and Marie Walterscheid, joining brothers Julian and Denis. He attended Sacred Heart Catholic Church, graduated from Sacred Heart High School in 1955, and married the love of his life Theresa Mae Felderhoff on May 3, 1958. They raised 4 children, Danny, Laurie, Greg and Amy. His stated goal in life was to get his wife and children to heaven. If dad had his way this is where this eulogy would end.
He grew up in the farm and ranch life and we assume he participated in lots of activities that three boys would get into along with their working lives. Dad had vivid recollections of growing up. A few notables were when Adolph traded in their pair of plow horses for their first tractor, threshing crews camping on the place during harvest season, opening gates for the oil wildcatting crews and occasionally getting a nickel, going to town fairly regularly for movies and other events. A bit surprising to me as that seemed a long trip, while Mom said she never went to town and the Felderhoff's were only a mile out.
He attended Sacred Heart Elementary and High School. He played all the sports, notably receiving All State Honors as a 155-pound center his senior year. He and mom started dating their senior year and both graduated in 1955. They were married and settled on the Felderhoff homeplace just north of Muenster. They began their family with Danny in 59, Laurie in 60, Greg in 64 and Amy in 71. Farming and ranching were always in motion, but Sylvan always had another paying job which varied until he joined National Supply. He worked there for 25 years, mostly on the evening and night shifts so he could work on other things during the other daylight hours. Sleep was not his first priority, work was! A few hours of sleep here or there was his practice for many, many years. We must give credit to his wife of 65 plus years who was on the other side of Dad's work ethic.
I give Dad a lot of credit as an entrepreneur who put his ideas in action. If he saw a need he took action to fill it. This resulted in Sylvan's Mobile Home Park where folks could live less expensively. When people wanted to process their own beef, he started a partnership for H&W Meat Company. This led to building a feedlot (that's the green silo all can see just north of town) to supply the beef cattle. Then there was the Kountry Korner Convenience store that sold the meat products. There were numerous other ideas from emu's, equipment refurbishing and oil production. But one thing to note, he put in the work for his ideas. He was not the one to be behind the desk. He was in the forefront as the designer, builder, maintenance man, lawn guy, and trash collector. His contribution was the idea - then he put the work behind it!
As our awareness of his work ethic grew over the years, we learned he was more about service. I am not sure Dad was a great businessman by some standards, but he was number one at customer service. He cared and everyone could see that almost immediately. He would go out of his way to make others more comfortable. Some took advantage of that trust (by my observations) with renters asking for more time, which Dad never declined, living rent free for months or even years because of Dad's kindness and understanding. I could not understand it then but I do now. He saw good in them, maybe he even saw Jesus in them, giving them the benefit of the doubt. He provided trust and kindness for the benefit of others at his sacrifice. We are sure there are a lot of other service examples to his fellow man that we may never know.
His service extended to the City of Muenster and his beloved Sacred Heart Parish and School. Sylvan sponsored and coached Little League baseball and coached junior high football for years. You could always see him on the grounds of school and church, being the unpaid maintenance man and groundskeeper, diligently caring for the football field, manning the aluminum can collections, etc etc. He was always around, he never needed to be asked, he just would see a need and took care of it. He saw things that needed to be done and took action, always in service. Quite the example for his family and I expect a lot more. A commonly used term today applies – Dad was a Servant Leader, not by words but by his actions!
Dad worked as diligently on his Faith. He was an example of a spiritual father/leader to his children and many others through his actions: He never missed Sunday Mass, Always prayed before meals, Attended Novenas and Adoration, Attended daily Masses when he could, He was the first to sign up for the ACTS retreat and then served on countless other retreats, He led and participated in his Saturday Morning Prayer Group since 2006 - surrounding himself with men to pray with and for.
On a lighter note, we know that being a farmer and rancher that Dad had lots of adventures and near misses as most do. But in his later years those seemed to multiply as did the work of his guardian angel. A quick list included: a major heart attack, being bitten by a donkey while riding his four- wheeler, falling 16 feet through a roof skylight and being run over by a cow. He also showed a hidden talent as he gained notoriety playing Johnny Carson at numerous Men's Acts Retreats. All this added to his family legacy and legend.
His eight grandchildren have lots of fond recollections as well – rides on the four-wheeler, papa reading the Christmas story every year, his ear wiggle and frog in the bicep tricks, wedding dances, bottle feeding baby calves, hugs after football and basketball games with a saying of "Way to go". His famous use of duct tape to fix things and melaleuca for his aches and pains. His hamburgers at Christmas tree hunting and 4th of July always tasted better. When working with papa, the grandsons recall that the water from his water jug was the best they ever tasted. And if papa was around, you better not leave your food or especially ice cream at the table unattended.
So, in the mystery of God's plan, Dad's life of work and service changed over the past three plus years. He went from a man of independence, needing no help from others, to being totally reliant. An unfathomable change. We all saw a truly humble, modest man reach a totally new level in those same traits. He never complained, never asked why me, only commenting that it was not the way he expected things to go. He embraced this period of redemptive suffering in good faith, not so much for himself but as he told Mom, he offered up the suffering for the good of his children and his goal to get us to heaven.
Dad was not big on keepsakes, but one thing he kept on a windowsill was a candle from one of his many ACTS Retreats; Danny was the leader on this retreat. That candle has a bible verse inscription, 2 Peter 3:11 "what sort of man ought you to be". I believe that sums up Sylvan Walterscheid's life of effort and service to his wife, family, and community as a Catholic man. He accepted the challenge of that verse and worked at it every day. We believe he was very successful in that effort and is now enjoying everlasting life with Our Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you, Dad.
Sylvan is survived by his wife of 65 years, Theresa Mae Felderhoff Walterscheid, son and daughter-in-law Danny and Nannette Walterscheid, daughter Laurie Walterscheid, son and daughter-in-law Greg and Julie Walterscheid and daughter and son-in-law Amy and Glen Swirczynski. Sylvan and Theresa Mae have 8 grandchildren: Eric (Megan) Walterscheid, Alex (Robert) Baker, Hilary (Adam) Brandau, Isac Walterscheid, Isabella Walterscheid, Seth Swirczynski, Ryan Swirczynski, and Claire Swirczynski. Great-grandchildren are Paxton Baker, Bode Baker and Willa Mae Walterscheid.
Sylvan was preceded in death by his parents, Adolph and Marie Walterscheid and brothers Denis and Julian Walterscheid.
In lieu of flowers, memorials can be made to The Alumni Corp. and Supporters at Sacred Heart.