The matriarch of Garner Farms died Wednesday, July 10, 2013, at the age of 94. Sarah Ann Adell Schell was born May 28, 1919, to Mayme and Ernest Schell in North Farmington, MI. She grew up in the tiny town of Fostoria, with three brothers, Ed, Russell and Dan Schell, and one sister, Agnes (Schell) Rader. Ed Schell, of North Lake, a longtime Millington educator, and Mrs. Rader, Millington, also a teacher, survive. After graduating as salutatorian of her 1936 class in Fostoria, Mrs. Garner earned her teacher’s credentials at Tuscola County Normal School, Caro, where young people were trained to teach in the one-room country schools that proliferated at the time. When she got a job as teacher — and custodian — at the Comstock School, she borrowed her brother Ed’s new Ford to drive to work. A County Normal classmate, Alice (Garner) Reif, introduced her to her future husband, Waldo Max Garner. They worked Garner Farms during their 54 years of marriage. He died in December 1995. The Centennial Farm remains in the family, managed by their son and his wife, Jon and Martha Garner. Their younger daughter, Roxann Guthrie, recently retired as a speech therapist at Vassar Public Schools, and she and her husband, William “Dutch” Guthrie, also make their home on Garner Road. The eldest, Suzanne Martinson, retired as food editor of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and lives with her husband, Bob, in Kelso, WA. Other family members living on Garner Road, or nearby, are Dan and Shauna Garner, Justin and Kelsey (Guthrie) Rudy, Tim and Kristi (Garner) Barber and Jill, Kirk and Shaun, and Jackie (Garner) Diedrich and Eryn and Cory. Granddaughter Jessica Martinson and her husband, Eli Burton, and daughter Lucy live in Holt, MI, and stepgrandchildren Brian and Jena Becker and son Kent live near Caro. Mrs. Garner also leaves many nieces and nephews, who shared her well-honed sense of humor. Ann Garner had an interesting work history. As a girl, she worked as Fostoria’s telephone operator, connecting the villagers at her switchboard. She could listen in if she wanted to, but she joked there wasn’t much exciting news in that small town. She and childhood friend Mina Trim ran a woman’s fashion store and often purchased clothes with particular customers in mind — the personal shoppers of Fostoria. Mrs. Garner was an expert seamstress and knitter, and her homemade ice cream and hot fudge were a Christmas Eve staple. After the Garners’ marriage on Aug. 2, 1941, at the Fostoria Methodist Church, the couple moved into the rambling farmhouse on Garner Road with Waldo’s parents, Norm and Alice Garner, along with one of Waldo’s four sisters, Norma, husband Arnold Kienzlen, and daughter Ann. Fifteen months later, the couple moved into the home they built next door. It had oak floors cut from lumber from the farm’s woods. Their oldest child took her first steps in the new house, where Mrs. Garner lived 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 with a lunch at Zehnder’s, she was there. The couple were leaders of the Jr. 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. Waldo Garner, a 47-year member of the Tuscola County Fair Board, was superintendent of horses at the fair, and Mrs. Garner kept all the books. She could tell you the name of every quarterhorse in the show ring, their owners, and where they lived. As a young couple, in addition to going to the Strand Theater almost every time the movie changed, they had an unusual hobby — they square-danced on horseback on Golden Palominos, she on Goldie and he on Little Joe. Mrs. Garner took up golf when she was 60. She said she wasn’t a great athlete, but she liked the lunches. The children all graduated from Michigan State University, and Ann and Waldo traveled with the Tuscola County Extension to visit farms in such far-flung spots as England and France, Hawaii, California and Alaska. Mrs. Garner also enjoyed family cruises (with Roxann’s schoolteacher friends) to Hawaii and Alaska. She visited the Pacific Northwest, including Black Butte Ranch near Sisters, OR, where her older daughter and son-in-law and her niece and husband, Ann and Bob Satow of Frankenmuth, played dozens of hands of euchre. Mrs. Garner always held one trump back, often to win the game. She was a good woman to have as a partner, a parent, and a grandparent. Visitation will be from 2-4 and 6-8 p.m. Sunday, July 14, at Penzien-Steele Funeral Home, Vassar, and a Celebration of Life will be at 11 a.m. Monday, July 15, at Vassar First United Methodist Church. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the church or the Palomino Horse Breeders of America Youth Scholarship Fund.
↧