Elizabeth Anne (Smith) Schabel (1941-2016)

SCHABEL, SMITH, ROTTET

Posted By: Mark Christian
Date: 7/3/2016 at 09:44:09

Obituary From Adams Soderstrum Funeral Home, Story County, Iowa.

Elizabeth A. Schabel
December 2, 1941 - June 12, 2016

Elizabeth Schabel, challenging English teacher at Iowa State University and energetic matriarch, died on June 12th at age 74, due to an illness that lasted more than a half century. Née Elizabeth Anne Smith in Richmond, Indiana, a "town of culture," according to her mother (née Marguerite Henrietta Rottet) of Swiss and German descent, Elizabeth grew up in Toledo and Cleveland in Ohio and in Rochester and Buffalo in Upstate New York, cities that, aside from the penultimate, are now affectionately referred to, along with Erie, Pennsylvania, as the "Mistakes on the Lake." Her father, R. Ashby Smith (on whom see http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/sketch/vol46/iss3/5/), of English and – via Canada – Irish extraction, was a hands-on itinerant business executive with Beechnut and hands-off sedentary cattle rancher in Western New York.

An alumna of famed Amherst High School, Elizabeth's attendance at private (Green Mountain College, Vermont) and public (University of Buffalo) universities corresponded with the ups and downs of the cattle business, until in 1963 the attractive young woman dropped out and used State funds to elope (on which see http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/sketch/vol47/iss2/11/) to Detroit with the dashing Frank Edward Schabel, then a minor, and almost simultaneously to conceive her first son, Christopher (on whom, see http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/sketch/vol46/iss2/2/), born in the late Millard Filmore hospital, named after the most humble of American presidents. After a period in public housing in Buffalo and private housing in Potsdam, New York, her second son, Bradley, was also born in Millard Filmore (in 1967), while Elizabeth was en route to Charleston, Illinois, where her third son, Bryan, was born (in 1971). The family moved briefly to Bloomington, Indiana, where Frank began his PhD, then Fredonia, New York, and finally Ames, Iowa, in 1976. Later, in 1993, after her sons had gone out on their own, Elizabeth and Frank relocated to Boone, Iowa, wisely purchasing a much larger home (Bilgewaters, built ca. 1870) to accommodate and “Schabelize” future daughters-in-law and grandchildren each summer.

The family slide photo archive reveals that Elizabeth, early on, waffled on the issues of abortion rights, gun control, children's proximity to the television, and hair color. By the time her sons were safely in elementary school, however, she was firmly liberal, reentering the work force at the cooperative First National Bank in Ames while earning (despite an A-) her BA and MA at the public land grant university of Iowa State. Faced with the rising publish-or-perish culture of academia, she did little of the former and none of the latter (until now), accepting a teaching position at the poor inner-city Valley High School in West Des Moines and eventually returning to Iowa State, where she taught for decades with a salary nearly twice that of a typical McDonald's employee. Award-winning teacher of honor's freshperson English and of honourable business communication, she was much loved by many and much hated by few, since she forced her students to examine their hitherto unexamined lives. Relaxing after retirement, she taught philosophy and drama to male inmates at prisons around Iowa.

As a mother, Elizabeth joined her husband in hauling her boys to and fro events tied to baseball, basketball, football, soccer, wrestling, golf, sticks & melons, and tennis. In tennis, she wished that in their temperament they had mirrored Borg, rather than McEnroe, especially her eldest son. A lifelong atheist, Elizabeth was born Lutheran, converted to Catholicism, and taught the occasional CCD class at St Thomas, until her boys left the Church. She was a prominent member of various subversive left/right-leaning organizations, such as the Serendipity Book Club, founded during the remilitarization of the Rhineland, and the Good Food Group, established at the time of Milošević's resignation. She was herself an avid reader of morbid literature and non-fiction and a gourmet chef, as well as a passionate equal-opportunity gardener. She listened to Sinatra and Led Zeppelin, among other musicians.

Elizabeth raised her three sons to be independent, so that they chose foreign women as partners, from such exotic places as Transylvania, São Paulo, and Chicago, and in her house in Boone one often heard and hears phrases in Greek, Portuguese, Japanese, Romanian, French, and medieval Latin, with some Spanish, Italian, and even Mandarin. Elizabeth's mötley family facilitated her indulgence in travel to seas, mountains, and world heritage sites. Indeed, she was an inveterate traveler during her veterate years, hitting all fifty states of the United ones (plus Puerto Rico), all ten provinces of Canada (including Manitoba), and a couple dozen countries ranging from Chile to China and India to Ireland.

Known variously as Lizabethy, Betsy, Liz, Mom, Granny, Nonna, Wibie, and Wien, Elizabeth is survived by her husband of 53 years, her three sons and their partners (Alex, Claudia, and Monica), her four grandchildren (Alex, Zeno, Max, and Cezara), and her four siblings (Judy, Jeff, Virginia, and Nikki), 75% of whom were still in contact with her at the time of her passing. Profoundly saddened, we shall "endeavor to persevere" and "continue with style." A memorial party will take place in the Butternut Shelter at Emma McCarthy Lee Park in Ames on July 9th from 4-8pm.

Memorial Celebration
JUL 9. 04:00 PM - 08:00 PM
Emma McCarthy Lee Park
3400 Ross Road
Ames, IA, US, 50010

http://www.adamssoderstrum.com/
 

Story Obituaries maintained by Mark Christian.
WebBBS 4.33 Genealogy Modification Package by WebJourneymen