Gerald Deane Schutz, 89, passed away Monday, Jan. 23, 2023, in Moscow. He was born to John Richard and Elsie Reuer Schutz on Sept. 16, 1933, at Mobridge Hospital in Mobridge, S.D.
He had a typical farm town childhood of the 1930s and ’40s. Fifty degrees below zero winters, snow-drifted roads, one-hundred-degree summers, and an uphill walk to school in both directions. In high school, he took his first job as a printer’s assistant at the Mobridge Tribune and worked his way through high school. He also played saxophone in the marching and concert bands, as well as the glee club. He was known a quite a “flirt.”
In 1952, he heard the call from Uncle Sam and joined the U.S. Army and served during the Korean War. He was a supply sargeant and played saxophone in the Army Band. Upon his release from service in 1957, he found his family had moved to California while he was overseas, so he discharged to Whittier, Calif. He attended Long Beach State College where he met Lillian White (Schutz), and they were married Dec. 31, 1958. The couple settled in Long Beach, Calif., where Gerald started working with heating/air-conditioning eventually owning his own HVAC business.
In 1967, after the Century City Riots Gerald and Lillian decided to move their young family to Idaho. On their way to Coeur d’Alene, they stopped to see some friends who had settled in Moscow. As luck would have it, there happened to be a parcel of land for sale adjacent to them and the Schutzes moved to Moscow.
Over the next 50-plus years Gerald would build his dream house on the property. Graduate with a Master of Engineering from Washington State University. Serve for 20 years in the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve. Work for Sears and WSU. Build a manufactured home park (Empire Mobile Homes). Own Wheels-A-Way roller-skating rink (the one in the Palouse Empire Mall). Be elected to all the local and state offices for both the Moose and the Eagles Lodges. Be a Boy Scout Master. Run for Latah County Commissioner. Keep a lake house at Benewah Lake and then at Rocky Point. Fish, hunt, and boat the back-country and inland waterways of the Pacific Northwest. Owned Link Transportation Systems. Serve on the Latah County Planning and Zoning commission. Annoy and cajole every local and state elected official. Serve on several commissions and boards. Raise three children, spoiled four grandchildren and started the corruption of three great-grandchildren. He had hoped to have lived to be 100.
Gerald is survived by his sister, Myrna (Schutz) Haggerty; daughter, Candus (Schutz) Everett (Larry); son, Jerry L Schutz; son, Cary Schutz (Patty); grandchildren: Brandee (Everett) Cerejo (David), Tiffany (Everett) Klauba (Justin), Ashley (Schutz) Ouellette (Morgan) and Dalton Schutz; great-grandchildren: Jacob Cerejo, Seth Cerejo and Jackson Klauba.
He was preceded in death by his parents and his wife. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorials to Mooseheart/Moosehaven or the Fraternal Order of Eagles Charity Foundation.
Short’s Funeral Chapel of Moscow is in charge of arrangements and condolences may be left at shortsfuneralchapel.com.
