Frances Mary (Schwartz) Wingert 1927-2008

SCHWARTZ, WINGERT, WILLGING, SHEPPERD, HEIMBACH, SCHMITZ, KASEL, MEYER, COAKLY

Posted By: J.N. (email)
Date: 10/8/2008 at 14:29:23

Frances Mary (Schwartz) Wingert, 81, of Saylorsburg, Pa., formerly of Dubuque and Chamberlain, S.D., died Saturday, Sept. 27, 2008, at LeHigh Valley Hospital, Bethlehem, Pa.

Services will be at 2 p.m. today at Hickey-Wevik Funeral Chapel, Chamberlain. Burial will be in Riverview Cemetery, Chamberlain. Friends may call after 10 a.m. today at the chapel. Services were held Monday at the Church of Saint Luke in Stroudsburg, Pa.

She was born on April 2, 1927, in Dubuque, daughter of Ernest and Bertha (Willging) Schwartz. She and her twin brother, Frank, were the youngest of eight children. She attended grade school and high school in Dubuque. After graduation, Frances received a scholarship to study music and received vocal training in classical opera.

Frances then worked for Bell Telephone Co. as a switchboard operator in Omaha, Neb. She left Bell Telephone to attend post secondary school at Creighton University in Omaha, attaining a bachelor of science in nursing.

She married Leon Wingert, of rural Kimball, S.D., on May 7, 1960. They purchased a farm near Chamberlain and began their married life together.

Leon farmed and Frances pursued her nursing career, first at the Chamberlain Clinic with Dr. Holland and Dr. Binder, and later at Community Bailey Hospital and Sunset Valley Haven Nursing Home. Frances and Leon had four children, a son Joseph, who passed away in infancy, two daughters, Ann and Ruth, and a son James. All of the children were raised in Chamberlain.

Frances later moved, first to Lake Preston, S.D., and then to Watertown, S.D., where she worked as a nurse. She then moved to Port Angeles, Wash., where she worked at Crestwood Nursing Home until her retirement. Frances lived in Port Angeles until January 2008, when she moved to Saylorsburg to live with her daughters, Ruth and Ann.

Gratefully sharing in her life are her daughters, Ann (Paul) Wingert Shepperd, of Stoudsburg, and their children, Nick and Catherine, Ruth (Edward) Heimbach, of Saylorsburg, and their children, Summer, Veronica, and Edward, Jr.; her son, James Wingert, of Chamberlain; and many nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Leon Wingert; an infant son, Joseph; three brothers, Frank, Robert and Ernest; and four sisters, Rosalynn Schmitz, Elizabeth Kasel, Mildred Meyer and Mary Coakly.

Online obituary and guestbook can been seen at www.chamberlainfuneralhome.com.