By Megan Decker
Staff Writer
VASSAR – Her family and friends will remember her wonderful spirit, sense of humor and delicious homemade staples while the community will remember Ann Garner as an educator, 4-H leader and matriarch of Garner Farms.
Sarah Annadell (Schell) Garner, 94, died Wednesday, July 10. Family and friends will remember her during a Celebration of Life service at 11 a.m. on Monday, July 15 at Vassar First United Methodist Church. Visitation will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. and 6 to 8 p.m. Sunday at Penzien-Steele Funeral Home in Vassar.
After graduating as salutatorian of the class of 1936 in Fostoria, Ann, the daughter of Mayme and Ernest Schell, went to earn her teaching credentials at Tuscola County Normal School where young people were trained to teach in the one-room county schools. She earned a job as a teacher, and also as a custodian, at the Comstock School.
A Country Normal classmate, Alice (Garner) Reif, introduced Ann to her future husband, Waldo Garner. The two managed Garner Farms during their 54 years of marriage until his death in December 1995. The centennial farm remains in the family and is managed by the couple’s son and his wife, Jon and Martha Garner.
Family living on Garner Road, or nearby, are Dan and Shauna Garner; Roxann and William “Dutch” Guthrie; Justin and Kelsey (Guthrie) Rudy; Jon and Martha Garner, Tim and Kristi (Garner) Barber and Jill, Kirk and Shaun Barber; Jackie (Garner) Diedrich and Eryn and Cory. Eldest daughter Suzanne Martinson lives with her husband, Bob, in Kelso, WA; granddaughter Jessica Martinson and her husband, Eli Burton, and daughter Lucy live in Holt; and step-grandchildren Brian and Jena Becker and son Kent live near Caro.
Ann is also survived by one brother, Ed Schell; one sister, Agnes Rader; and many nieces and nephews. Her brothers Russell and Dan Schell preceded her in death.
After the Garners’ marriage on Aug. 2, 1941, the couple moved into the rambling farmhouse with Waldo’s parents, Norm and Alice Garner, along with one of Waldo’s four sisters, Norma, husband Arnold Kienzlen, and daughter Ann.
A year later, the couple moved next door into the home they built with lumber cut from the farm’s woods. Ann lived in that family farmhouse until her death.
Mrs. Garner immersed herself in family activities. She was a Girl Scout leader and when her Brownie troop celebrated their 50th anniversary in 2011 she made sure to attend the gathering. The couple was leaders of the Junior Horsemen 4-H Club and charter members of the Boots and Saddle Club, whose clubhouse was near Caro. She was also a member of the Order of Eastern Star and the North Vassar Farmers Club, explained her daughter Suzanne Martinson.
“My mother lived life up until her last bit,” Martinson said. “She was such a huge staple on the family’s farm – always keeping the books and records up to date.”
Ann will be remembered for her delicious cooking especially her hot fudge sundaes made with homemade farm ice cream and hot fudge.
“She made the most delicious ice cream with eggs from the farm’s chickens, cream from the cows and sugar from the local sugar beet farmers. She always made sure to bring her ice cream to every family event.”
Martinson also recalled her mother’s famous baked beans and the lengths she would go to ensure them at family gatherings.
“My mother had a great sense of humor, “ she said. “I remember when I first moved to Washington and got married. When my mother came to visit, she got off the plane holding a bag of navy beans because she was afraid she wouldn’t have the right kind of beans in Washington to make her baked beans.
“I told her we had beans in the Pacific Northwest, but she insisted on bringing her navy beans just to be sure.”
Aside from her cooking, Ann and Waldo loved watching the newest films at the Strand Theatre and also square-danced on horseback on Golden Palominos. They also had the opportunity to travel with the Tuscola County Extension to farms in England, France, Hawaii, California and Alaska. She also made visits to the Pacific Northwest. Ann even took up golf in her later years.
“She was a good woman to have as a partner, a parents and a grandparent,” Martinson said.
Ann’s son-in-law William Guthrie added, “She was a wonderful woman in every respect.”