Judith Schullery

Judith Catherine (Murphy) Schullery of Lancaster, age 98, passed away peacefully in her sleep on January 31, 2018, at Fairfield Medical Center. Judy was born on August 29, 1919, at the family home on Friend Street, Millersport, Ohio, to Frederick Franklin Murphy and Goldie Gertrude Grubaugh. She is preceded in death by her husband, Rev. Stephen Emil Schullery; her parents; a sister Alice Eileen Fugett and brothers Richard Franklin Murphy and Frederick Junior Murphy.

Judy was a 1937 graduate of Millersport High School and earned a two-year teacher's certificate from Capital University. In 1941, she married Rev. Stephen Emil Schullery, whom she met while at Capital. As Judy and Steve followed the pastoral calls of his career as a Lutheran minister, the Schullery family resided in Quicksburg, Virginia; Hegins and Hershey Pennsylvania; Corpus Christi, Texas; Gadsden, Alabama; and Warren, Michigan. In 1963, they settled in Lancaster, Ohio, where Steve served for many years as pastor of St. Peter's Lutheran Church.

When not busy making a warmly welcoming home and raising kids, Judy was much in demand as a gifted substitute teacher, working in school districts in Gadsden, Warren, and Lancaster. She was active for many years in the Fairfield Medical Center's Frank S. Benson Sr. Twig 7 and in St. Peter's Lutheran Church Ruth Circle. In spare moments she made the rounds of Lancaster providing needful friends with a jar of soup, a loaf of home-made bread, or one of her famous raisin pies.

Following her retirement from teaching and the death of her beloved husband Steve in 1985, Judy embarked on a remarkable world adventure, fulfilling a childhood dream by traveling to dozens of destinations on all seven continents. These trips involved regularly alarming her children with her exploits, which included parasailing over the Indian Ocean, running whitewater rapids in China, hot-air ballooning over the Serengeti Plain in Tanzania, braving the Antarctic ice to photograph penguins, zip-lining through a jungle somewhere, riding camels, elephants, and even a snowmobile in various faraway places, and other adventures about which she told her companions, "It's a good thing that my kids don't know I'm doing this!" Through all these cosmopolitan wanderings she retained her small-town girl sense of wonder and her unique and lively perspective on the world and its inhabitants.

After Steve's death, she decided to oversee the complete ground-up restoration of his 1930 Model-A Ford, the same model as he had courted her in. Once the renovation was complete, she and that beautiful coupe became an annual fixture in scores of parades all over Fairfield County. This led to her being honored as Grand Marshal of the 2008 Millersport Sweet Corn Festival Parade and the 2011 Lancaster Holiday Festival Parade. In 2017, she proudly attended the annual Millersport High School class reunions as her class's only survivor for the 80th anniversary of her graduation.

Judy Schullery was one of a kind. We will remember her for her unfailing love; for her dimpled smile, unambiguous opinions, and quick humor; for her extraordinary generosity; for her clear and pitch-perfect singing in many churches large and small; and for the countless meals, clothes, and quilts she created to nourish and warm generations of family and friends.

Judy is survived by her three children, Stephen Edmund (Nancy) Schullery, currently of Kalamazoo, Michigan, Deborah Susan Harding (Gerald Anderson) of Caballo, New Mexico, and Paul David Schullery (Marsha Karle), of Bozeman, Montana, grandchildren Susan Sarters, Joseph Harding, and Daniel Schullery, five great-grandchildren, four great-great-grandchildren, and numerous nieces and nephews.

The funeral service will take place on Friday, February 2, 2018 at the FRANK E. SMITH FUNERAL HOME CHAPEL, 405 N. COLUMBUS ST., LANCASTER, OHIO 43130 with Deacon Diane Schwiger-Alexander and Rev. William Rauch officiating. Visitation will begin at 1:30 p.m. followed by the service at 3:00 p.m. at the funeral home with interment at Green Mound Cemetery.

The family suggests that donations may be made in Judy's memory to FairHoPe Hospice, 282 Sells Rd., Lancaster, Ohio, 43130, which, together with the compassionate staff at the Fairfield Medical Center, were a blessing beyond description in Judy's final days.

To send an online condolence, and sign the guest book, please visit www.funeralhome.com.

Visitation

1:30 PM - 3:00 PM ,Friday, February 2, 2018
Frank E. Smith Funeral Home
405 N. Columbus St Lancaster, OH 43130

Funeral Service

3:00 PM ,Friday, February 2, 2018
Frank E. Smith Funeral Home Chapel
405 N. Columbus St. Lancaster, Ohio 43130