Deacon Gary Schon, age 71, of Glidden, IA, passed away peacefully surrounded by his family on Sunday, December 18, 2022 at St. Anthony Regional Hospital in Carroll, after a long battle with Parkinson’s Disease and Lewy Body Dementia.
Services have been rescheduled for Gary Schon due to weather.
Mass of the Christian Burial will be celebrated at 10:30 A.M. on Tuesday, December 27, 2022 at St. Elizabeth Seton Catholic Church in Glidden with Fr. Merlin Schrad as Celebrant. Fr. Timothy Schott and Fr. Randy Schon will concelebrate the Mass and Deacon Bill Black will be Homilist. Music for the mass will be by the St. Elizabeth Seton Choir with Mary Ross as organist and Mike Bolton as soloist. Lectors for the Mass will be Dale Schon and Mary Schon. Gift bearers will be Gary’s children: Ryan Schon, Jared Schon, Jami Subbert, and Keri Bauer. Mass servers will be Brileigh Bock and Jackson Whitaker. Casket bearers will be Don Schon, Troy Schon, Brian Schon, Lynn Stork, Steve Seidl, and Don Meiners. Honorary casket bearers will be Deacons of the Diocese of Sioux City. Burial will be in Merle Hay Memorial Cemetery in Glidden.
Visitation will be held at St. Elizabeth Seton Catholic Church in Glidden from 5 – 7 P.M. on Monday, December 26, 2022. Additional visitation will be held at the church from 9:30 – 10:15 A.M. on Tuesday prior to the Mass.
Funeral arrangements are under the direction of the Dahn and Woodhouse Funeral Home in Glidden. Online condolences may be left for the family at www.dahnandwoodhouse.com.
Gary was born on July 15th, 1951 in Carroll, Iowa, and he was the son of Leo and Rosemary (Masching) Schon. Gary grew up in Carroll and attended Glidden-Ralston for 2 years before transferring to Kuemper for the remaining years of school, graduating in 1969. He then attended Iowa State until 1971, studying chemical engineering.
After college he married his best friend, Sheri Wolfe on July 17th, 1971 at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Jefferson. They owned and operated the Amoco Station in Glidden for 5 years until the Moorhouse family asked them to join their family business in 1976. Gary and Sheri worked for the business for about 10 years before purchasing it and operating Schon Lumber Company in Glidden, Lanesboro and Scranton for 40 years. Over the course of the years, he served his community in many ways through the city council for 2 years, volunteered and donated to the Habitat for Humanity, participated on school committees and was a leader in his church. He was passionate about making the small town of Glidden a great place to live, raise a family and own a business.
In 2008, Gary became a Catholic Deacon and served our Lord for 14 years. He assisted with masses, funerals, wedding ceremonies, anointing of the sick, visiting the hospital and nursing home patients and finally what he loved most of all was baptisms and bringing a new member into the Catholic faith.
Gary always had a passion for sports beginning in his younger years playing softball with his brothers and sisters on their family homestead to eventually playing, coaching and sponsoring several 16” slow-pitch teams. He took several teams to State and Nationals many times. He loved announcing at tournaments and making friendships with players, coaches and spectators from across the state of Iowa, as well at Nationals. He was recognized and inducted into both the Carroll County and State of Iowa Softball Hall of Fames and was honored to be asked to throw out the first pitch at several tournaments, always with a big smile. He was also an avid Iowa State Cyclone fan having season tickets to football and basketball games for many, many years, he always loved the tailgates spending time with many family and friends.
Gary was the rock of his family. He truly adored and loved his children and grandchildren. He loved attending and watching their sporting events and all of their activities. When his grandchildren walked into a room, his eyes would light up and they would run to him with arms wide open and begging for jelly beans. Gary and Sheri enjoyed traveling, especially to their home in Florida while his health allowed.
Surviving are his beloved wife Sheri of 51 years, their 4 children Ryan and Meg (Williams) Schon of Ankeny, Jared and Jill (Kemper) Schon of Carroll, Jami and Joe Subbert of Glidden, and Keri and Brian Bauer of Willey, 13 grandchildren Dani, Andrew, Jacob, Emily, Kenzie, Kayden, Addison, Jaelyn, Jenna, Jayci, Jaxton, Hayden and Olivia, his brothers Dale (Lori) Schon of Willey, Mark (Jolene) Schon of Cedar Rapids, Jeff (Melanie) Schon of Glidden, Joey (Monica) Schon of Glidden, his sisters Mary Schon of Carroll, Shirley (Andre) Angrick of Glidden, Jeanie (John) Pletchette of Altoona, and brother-in-law Rex Knudsen of Carroll, brother-in-law Jason Wolfe from Minnesota and sister-in-law Keri (Ron) Guess of Jefferson.
Preceding him in death are his parents Leo and Rosemary Schon, sister Sandy Knudsen, brother Patrick Schon, parents-in-law Jerry and Bonnie Wolfe and brother-in-law Jimmie Wolfe.
