Whitehall father, husband, mentor lauded by city leaders
By KEVIN CORVO
City Councilman Chris Rodriguez requested the resolution and appealed to council members to adopt it as an emergency, as Schumacher has colon cancer.
His wife, Joanne, their three daughters, and three of his eight grandchildren attended the meeting to accept the resolution on his behalf.
“Too often we don’t thank people until it’s too late,” said Rodriguez, who met Schumacher when he moved into his Robinwood Avenue residence in 1989.
“(Schumacher) has such love for his family and is a great father and husband,” Rodriguez said.
Schumacher is a member of the East Side Grace Brethren Church, where he has been a trustee and volunteer youth minister.
Auditor Kim Maggard read the resolution to Schumacher’s family and later thanked the family for how Schumacher shares the testimony of Christ with others.
Maggard, like Rodriguez, also was a neighbor of the Schumachers for 16 years until the Maggards moved to another part of Whitehall.
“He is a Christian mentor to so many people,” she said.
An avid sportsman, Schumacher participated in senior softball leagues and was a pitcher for the Columbus Vipers, a softball team for visually impaired or blind players.
Mayor John Wolfe shared knowing Schumacher for about the last 40 years and recalled he pitched for a team sponsored by Walter’s Foods, a former neighborhood grocery store in Whitehall.
Schumacher and his wife have lived in Whitehall for more than 45 years.