Mary SCHEUERMAN

1924 - 2025

Mary Scheuerman (Johns) passed away in Richland, Washington, at age 100, surrounded by family, on September 25. She grew up in the Spokane Valley and Wallace, Idaho, before leaving high school to serve the nation during World War II to help outfit warplanes. The daughter of Edward and Emily (Sunwold) Johns, she was born on October 7, 1924, in Spokane, and first lived on a small farm between the rural communities of Vera and Mica in Washington's Spokane Valley. Her twin brother, Merlin, died when the two were only 19 months old. As a young girl, she and her older brother, Willis, walked and rode horseback to the nearby one-room Lone Fir country school. The family relocated to Wallace, Idaho, about 1933. She took piano lessons and became an accomplished musician who played for local events and family gatherings for decades. Although a lifelong Lutheran, she attended Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Academy in Wallace, where she made many friendships that lasted throughout her long life.

When the war broke out in 1941, her brother, Willis, and other family members volunteered for military service. Although a good student, during her senior year she and another friend decided to forgo school and contribute to the war effort by working at Galena (later Fairchild) Airfield near Spokane. She then moved to Long Beach, California, to work at the Douglas Aircraft factory as a "Rosie the Riveter" to outfit fighter, bomber, and cargo planes. In 1944, she returned to Spokane to help care for her father who had suffered a stroke and also found employment at the Naval Supply Depot in the Spokane Valley. There she met her future husband, Donovon Scheuerman, who worked at the facility during the off-season with a group of other young farmers from Endicott. The couple married in September 1946 and in the spring of the following year moved to the Scheuerman family farm between Endicott and St. John. Here, Mary maintained Grandma Scheuerman's beloved flowers and lilacs and helped tend cows, chickens, and a substantial garden.

Mary and Don lived on the farm for over four decades where they raised four children: Don, Richard, Debbie, and Diane. She enjoyed the area couples' bridge and pinocle clubs and scarcely a month passed for years without the local paper's Endicott column carrying the news that "Mary Scheuerman won high at…." She was a member of Trinity Lutheran Church and active in numerous community activities including the Lady Jaycees, bowling league, and community float-building. She was a longtime Book of the Month Club member who kept a journal of her voluminous readings and regularly studied the Scriptures.

Mary was preceded in death by her husband, Donovon (1993); and brothers, Merlin (1925) and Willis (1989). Her immediate family includes son, Don Scheuerman and Amber Hauvermale, Colfax, and daughter, Nicole; Richard and Lois Scheuerman, Richland, and children, Karl, Mary, and Leigh; Debbie Wolfe, Endicott, and children, Jared, Katie, and Andrew; and Diane and Rob Smith, Colfax, and children, Brooke, Kristen, and Brett. She is also survived by 19 great-grandchildren, and numerous nephews, nieces, and cousins.

The family expresses most special thanks to the staff of Brookdale Torbett Senior Living, Richland Post Acute, and Kadlec Hospital. Mary will be laid to rest at a family service on Monday, September 29, at 2:00 PM, at the Endicott Cemetery. Memorials are suggested to the Cooperative Schools Reich-Scheuerman Scholarship (St. John-Endicott Cooperative Schools, 301 W. Nob Hill Road, St. John, WA 99171), Endicott City Pool (Endicott Parks & Recreation District, Endicott, WA 99125), or A Family for Every Orphan (600 First Avenue, Suite 330, #37939, Seattle, WA 98104-2205).