Barbara Schutzgruber – Storyteller & Weaver

Dorothy Anne Hanlon Schutz
Brownstone Falls, Wisconsin circa 1948

You were born in the wake of WWI
And the great Influenza Pandemic
The oldest of seven – your job was to be ‘the oldest’
To keep track of your brothers and sisters
To be the first and forge the trail

A bachelor’s degree in 1938 at age 20
A driver of convoys cross country in WWII
The first woman to head a government department
10 years in the work force

Charmed by a precocious ‘youngest child’
You gave birth to 5 children in 7 years
You experienced the loss of miscarriage
You buried a son who was only 20
And stood next to your oldest child
As she buried a son who was only 2

You organized people and stockrooms
You chaired committees
You drove us to all our activities
You raised us alone every summer for 6 years
So dad could get his masters

You were never a ‘Martha Stewart’ type
You were not a ‘warm & fuzzy’ mom
You were all business and analytical
You were no nonsense

You rarely yelled – you didn’t have to
That quiet, calm, icy voice was far more potent
Each word articulated with deadly precision

You never talked behind anyone’s back
Everyone always knew where they stood… for better or worse

The things that made me crazy growing up I now see in myself
I look in the mirror and see your eyes looking back
I hear your words coming out of my mouth
I can organize people and stockrooms

You made choices and moved forward
You never looked back asking ‘what if….?’
You gave what you were able to give

You gave me life.