Schwarz, Lucy (Johnson) 1941-2024

SCHWARZ, RUPLE, FRANKLIN, YARDLEY, PARKS, WHISENAND, JOHNSON, HENDRICKS, LEATHERMAN

Posted By: Volunteer Transcriber
Date: 4/11/2024 at 16:38:20

Lucy (Johnson) Schwarz
November 25, 1941 ~ April 4, 2024 (age 82)

Lucy Schwarz, 82, of rural Newton, died on Thursday, April 4, 2024, at her home. Barbara Lucille “Lucy”, daughter of Harley and Dorothy (Ruple) Johnson, was born on November 25, 1941 in Vilonia, Arkansas. In 1946, her brother Carl “Sonny” Franklin, completed the family. As a child, Lucy grew up in the hills of Arkansas. For a while, her parents moved to Washington state for work and Lucy and her brother stayed in Arkansas with their grandparents and other family members. Early memories of playing with cousins and walking miles to get to her grandparents’ house were shared for generations. Also, during this time, Lucy and her brother would sometimes travel to Newton to visit family that moved there from Arkansas. In 1950, her parents returned from Washington state and they made Newton their hometown. They first resided in the Sunset Park neighborhood where the kids would spend countless hours hanging out with other kids in the neighborhood. Through the years, Lucy enjoyed catching up with her friends from the “Sunset years.” Later, the family moved to N 3rd Ave E, which would become what would be considered the family home. Growing up, Lucy attended Emerson Hough Elementary, Central Junior High, and then graduated from Newton High School in 1960. During school, Lucy met Frank Schwarz and they were married on June 24, 1960, at the family home on 3rd Ave. Frank and Lucy spent a short time in an apartment in Newton, then moved to a farmhouse north of Newton owned by her in-laws, and eventually buying a farm on T-12 close to Frank’s family farm. They welcomed their son, Scott, on December 8, 1960, and their daughter, Lyndi, on May 24, 1971. In 1961, Lucy’s father passed away. Her mother, Dorothy was later united in marriage to Robert Leatherman in 1971, who was a father figure in her life and a loving papa to her children and grandchildren.

Lucy loved her life on the farm, raising her children and working on the land and helping with their livestock. She was always a hard worker and would do any job that needed done. As her children grew, Lucy took additional jobs at Van’s Machine Shop in Lynnville and would help her mother-in-law at the Maytag Dairy Farm during the busy holiday season. On the weekends, the family enjoyed taking rides through the countryside, many times to visit Amish communities. Lucy had a deep respect for the values and traditions that the Amish displayed and would make many trips to visit and chat with the members throughout her life. In the early 1980s, Frank and Lucy would add an additional farm to their operation. Farming during that time was truly neighbor helping neighbor. During the farm crisis of the 1980s, Lucy looked outside of the farm for additional employment. On January 21, 1985, Lucy began working part-time at Hy-Vee, then located at 1810 1st Ave E in Newton. When the store moved to the Newton Shopping Center, Lucy worked in customer service and later would move to full-time at the meat counter where she worked until she retired. Her Hy-Vee career spanned 37 years and 9 months, with her official retirement date being November 4, 2022. When asked if she liked her time at Hy-Vee, she would always answer, she “missed her customers but not the job.” She truly loved her customers and chatting with them daily. After retirement, she spent her days on the farm with her grand dog, Niko and spent every Saturday shopping with Lyndi and just spending quality time with her. When the weather was nice you could always find her sitting on her deck with a Dr. Pepper enjoying the sun.

Lucy had two love languages: the first was feeding people and the second was her endless generosity. Many times, those two gifts would intertwine. Feeding people came naturally with her job at Hy-Vee, where she always had the customers’ best interest at heart and would help them find the best deals possible. Family, friends, and customers alike will always remember her famous beef and noodles that had to be cut thin and not thick, peanut brittle that she would make around the holidays and hand out to everyone, and her Texas sheet cakes that her family and co-workers would request. When anyone would ask for her recipes, Lucy would always say, “If you got a little, add a little, if you got a lot, add a lot” and never had an actual recipe written down for anything. Her generosity was continually displayed throughout her life, like the meals she would buy for people in need—especially around the holidays, the countless organizations that she supported, and financial support for individuals that needed a helping hand. Her whole life on the farm she would plant a “half acre” garden, as she enjoyed canning from her harvest, but she always made sure to plant plenty to share with friends and family—tomatoes and cucumbers galore. For many years, when asked what she wanted for her birthday or Christmas her response was always, “Please just donate to Hope Ministries to help others.” Sending cards to people that were ill or celebrating a milestone was also a priority, just to let them know she was thinking of them.

Lucy was not your typical Granny; her personality was one of a kind and she would always make you laugh for hours. You never quite knew what would come out of her mouth. She had countless unique expressions, many using colorful language, that never failed to make people smile. Her love for her grandchildren was something special. When she wasn’t at work, her baggy sweatpants and sweatshirts with not one, but two layers of cuddle duds were her standard attire, as she stayed cold all year long. She loved to read and write, and mushroom hunting was a family tradition. Life was not always easy, and despite what seemed to be hard times, including her divorce from Frank in 1998, and the loss of her son, Scott, in 2018, Lucy kept a strong faith. Not a day would go by that she wasn’t praying for others.

Lucy’s legacy will be continued for generations to come, most permanently through the daily journals she kept, dating back to the 1970s. Each day a record of the weather, who visited, what farm activities were taking place, and anything else that was of note, was journaled for generations to catch a glimpse of what her life looked like. The community will remember her legacy in the loving way she would call everyone “Honey” or “Sweetie.” She had a knack of making each person she encountered feel special, even if she didn’t always remember everyone’s name.

Lucy will be remembered by her daughter, Lyndi (Brian) Yardley; grandchildren, Jordan (Ryan) Yardley, Nick Yardley, Stephanie (Andre) Parks, and Sara (David) Whisenand; six great-grandchildren, Kaylee, Braelyn, Charli, Cameron, Carleigh Lucille, and Cali; her nephew, Ron Johnson and family; niece, Jaime Johnson-Hendricks and family; and grand dog, Niko. She was preceded in death by her parents, Harley Johnson, Dorothy and Robert Leatherman, mother-in-law Mabel Schwarz; son, Scott Schwarz; and brother, Carl “Sonny” Johnson.

A celebration of her life will be held Saturday, April 27, 2024, from 1-4 p.m., at Community Heights Alliance Church. In lieu of flowers, memorials to Hope Ministries in Des Moines may be left at the church the day of the celebration or at the Wallace Family Funeral Home and Crematory. If unable to leave a donation, please consider doing a good deed in Lucy’s memory.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Lucy (Johnson) Schwarz, please visit our floral store.

Services
CELEBRATION OF LIFE VISITATION
Saturday
April 27, 2024
1:00 PM to 4:00 PM
Community Heights Alliance Church (Newton)
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Tribute Wall ~ The Wallace Family Funeral Home, Newton, Iowa 04 April 2024.