From war, a life together was born

War involves leaving things behind. Leaving behind your family, albeit temporarily, to go somewhere halfway around the world. Leaving a part of yourself in a foreign land. Leaving homes, brothers-in-arms and too many other things than can be accounted for.

For Nona and Roy Schuler, the Korean War resulted in them finding something; each other.

At the conclusion of the war, Roy was on his way home on a ship that carried other veterans on board. Roy lived in California where Nona’s brother, Tham, who also served, lived. Nona’s brother asked his fellow veterans who was from California, and Roy noted that he was.

Nona’s brother asked Roy to come to his house for several days and meet his family, where he and Nona met for the first time.

“At the time there were three sisters,” Nona said. “And when they found out he was coming they said, ‘Well, I wonder which one he’ll choose.’ And I guess you know who won — I did.”

Before Roy left to return to his family, he asked Nona if they could write letters to each other. They continued to exchange letters and talk on the phone until Valentine’s Day of 1954, when Roy proclaimed to Nona, “Let’s find a jewelry store.” Roy proposed that day. The engagement lasted years, and they wed Nov. 23, 1957.

The newlywed couple moved to Eureka, Calif., after the engagement where they made their home. Roy worked in local lumber and saw mills for several years following. After a number of years, Roy decided he wanted to have another job and the couple made their trek to the Pacific Northwest, where Roy got a job at a smelter in Tacoma.

The smelting job eventually fell through, and Roy spent the rest of his time in the workforce driving a taxi cab in Fort Lewis, Wash.

“He drove that cab all over,” Nona said. “Picking people up, taking them places. But soon his health kind of declined a bit. And then one night, in ’87, he said, ‘My chest hurts real bad. I think I better go see the doctor.’ It was around midnight.”

Nona took Roy to the hospital. At 3:15 a.m., the doctor came out and informed Nona that Roy had died.

Nona went through some of the darkest days of her life following Roy’s death, but eventually put her life back together. A large part of her trying to fight through her own personal darkness was her faith and trying to be better for her and Roy’s four children: Steven James, Melvin Wayne, Lawrence Eugene and Pamela Tay. When Nona’s health started to deteriorate, she moved into the Idaho State Veterans Home in Lewiston, where she continues to reside today.

“The state of Idaho has been good to me,” Nona said. “It has been said that Idaho takes care of its own, and they do just that. I’ve seen it and I’ve experienced it and there’s no other place that I’d rather be than here.”

Nona’s relationship to Roy lasted 33 years. Through her marriage to Roy, Nona was able to see his kindness and love for his fellow man.

Roy, in Nona’s words, was a people person. He loved helping people and putting smiles on their faces. That’s part of the reason he drove a cab. Throughout the entire time they spent together, Roy was satisfied with his life, with his family, and would do his best to (make) every day, especially holidays, special.”

“Christmastime was always special,” Nona said. “He’d say, ‘I’m satisfied with life now. I got three boys, and I’ve got my daughter.’ And that was it, the family was complete. And we’ve all managed to be together at times.”

Through those 33 years with his family, Roy never forgot his time serving. He would invite veterans from the local base to his house on Thanksgiving to share meals and festivities with him and his family.

“He would go out to the fort and bring in a soldier who was far from home,” Nona said. “And he’d share Thanksgiving dinner with us. He had a lot of good in him, but you wouldn’t want to monkey around with him. You best leave him alone. But he was good for what he did. Very good father and husband.”

Nona, who will be 90 years old in November, still retains many memories of Roy and their time together with their family. And though it’s almost impossible to capture two lifetimes in so many words, the one they shared apart and the one they shared together, Nona keeps a poem that she wrote for Roy when he died, one that ensures that the veteran, the husband, father and the friend will never be forgotten:

“I, your father young many years ago,

“Told my Uncle Sam it was time for me to go.

“Seems there was a war in some strange land,

“Told Uncle Sam I’d go and give him a hand.

“I joined the army on the 17th of November,

“A day I shall all remember.

“Once in the army, I said ‘here I am.’

“Proud to be in uniform for my Uncle Sam.

“I trained hard and now I fight,

“For God and my country and for what I thought was right.

“I was sent to a strange land so very far away,

“And I knew that I’d come back home someday.

“I walked the hills of Korea called “no man’s land,”

“And there I would fight and take my stand.

“I fought in a forgotten war so many years ago,

“For the wind was so cold with ice and snow.

“Now I’m gone, never again to walk this proud land,

“Knowing I took my stand for God and man.

“And that I am not forgotten.”

Kowatsch can be reached at tkowatsch@lmtribune.com.