MOM AND DAD
I love you

Marcella E. Highland Schaad

September 25, 1921 - March 23, 2002

Marcella, my mother, lived a full and happy life. She was born September 25, 1921, in Marietta to Charles Francis and Anna Caroline (Stirnkorp) Highland. She had lived in my hometown of Marietta all her life. She lived in the same house her whole life, which I am now living in myself. Mother graduated from St Mary's Catholic School in 1939. She was a member of the St. Mary's Catholic Church and the Catholic Woman's Club, of which she was a past president, past treasurer of the Steubenville Diocese of the Catholic Women's Club; past officer and prayer adviser of Marietta Christian Women's Club, and belonged to several other clubs.
She volunteered at Marietta Memorial
Hospital for 22 years. That was another thing we had in common, I am a volunteer for the Home Nursing and Hospice in Marietta, and would attend the yearly dinners they had for the volunteers.

Walter Frederick Schaad

January 31, 1918 - September 29, 1994.

His parents were Peter Henry, and Mary Florence Schaad. He came from a larger family than Mom, with 2 brothers and 3 sisters. Dad's first job was working on silos with Marietta Concrete. In the fall of 1940 he met my mom, but was taken away to WW2 on Decemeber 8th 1941. He drove a tank in the 4th Infantry Division "IV" or Ivy Division 42nd Field Artillery. They were married on April 9, 1942. The war ended June 6th, 1945. My father continued to work for Marietta Concrete company for a short while, then became a funeral director and worked for a local funeral home. Ironically, my mother's cancer doctor was the great grand daughter of the man my father worked for. In October of 1945 my father founded his own business with a partner, then continued to keep the business on his own. Mom and Dad had just had their 50th wedding anniversary when we learned that my father had cancer. Here is another story written called "Something Special" It tells about when Dad was sick and how I lost him and my best dog friend at the same time.

Mom was also preceded in death by my sister, her daughter Rebecca J. Doan, and her brother, My Uncle, Monsignor Charles Highland. My mother had six children, Becky was the oldest and I was the youngest with three boys and one other girl in between. She had 9 Grandchildren and 3 great grandchildren. She loved and cherished us all.

My mother was my best friend. There was seldom a time we were not together. We spent many hours shopping. Each week we had to go grocery shopping and always ended up with a trip to WalMart, and lunch. I would always ask her "Where do you want to go eat lunch today Mom?" She would always answer with "oh I don't know" or "oh I don't care." After weeks of I don't care and I don't know we got to laughing about how those restaurants were not open yet. I would do anything to have one more lunch with my mom. Some days I miss her so much it's hard not to cry all day. Living in her house, seems to make it better, then some days makes it worse. But I can be closer to her this way by being in the home and even the room she quietly passed away in.

Mom and I had our moments at times. I don't know of anyone that could have spent as much time together as we have and not had a few moments. Just before she passed away I told her I was sorry for all the times we got angry at one another, and she said "I just looked at them as Jude and Mom moments" and those they were. But the moments I want to remember the most were the good ones.

My mother was diagnosed with a tumor in her liver, that was obstructing the common bile duct. The doctor at that time gave her 3 months to live. She did the chemo, she did all that she was told to do. She didn't want to die. The Lord blessed us with another year. Just as we thought we had beaten that ugly disease, she began to get sick to her stomach. After her last trip to Columbus hospital, we learned the tumor that had shrunk, the tumor that was only scar tissue, the tumor that is gone, is in fact still there and growing. How could this be? "Well you just can't see all those things with an MRI" we were told.

Mother still fought, she took the radiation treatments even though each time she came from one she was weaker and more yellow. One Sunday morning my mom said to me as we laid in bed together I think we need to call the Doctor and see if maybe I should go to the hospital. I am getting so weak and I don't feel well at all. I called her doctor, and she made a visit to the house. With a tear in her eye, she gave us the news. I am sorry but you have two weeks. After she left, I thought to myself, what do you say? How can you tell someone how much you love them in two weeks? My mother knew I loved her. I was with her daily. Those two weeks turned into one, and the last week Mom was alive, I slept with her and we would talk every night. I will never forget waiting for her to fall asleep while I held her hand in mine. My mom was my angel. She was the only one person on the face of this earth that truly loved me for who I am. How could I not take care of her when she needed me?
My mother died from Jaundice. If that tumor had been any where else in her liver, I believe she would still be here today. I still feel her hand in mine. When I go to bed at night I think of those last days we spent.

If there is ever a time when you feel angry at your mother, remember you only have one Mom, and she is a precious angel to you.
Tell her you love her while you can.

This story of the robin was what I read at my mothers funeral

The Robin Redbreast

The robin redbreast is a bird of Spring, a time of new growth and new beginnings. It flies into our lives on the winds of change asking us to weed our personal gardens and plant new seeds for our future. Rebirth and renewal require changes in all areas of life that have become stagnant and outdated. The robin redbreast teaches us to how to make these changes with joy in our hearts. Its song is a happy one reminding us to let go of our personal drama and learn to laugh with life. Sometimes difficulties arise and emotional discord can surface. Learning how to release our attachments to the old is one of the life lessons the redbreast helps us master. It holds strong significance in ancient myth and lore with divine sacrifice and the rebirth of the spirit. It was told how, at that fateful hour, on the cross, it was the tiny robin who flew to Jesus' Crown of Thorns, striving courageously to pluck the spines away with his beak. Unfortunately the bird succeeded only in tearing his own breast on the thorns. Ever since then it was thought that all robins wore red feathers on their breasts as a badge of honor. The robin redbreast is a bird of divine service. With patience, compassion and proper focus spiritual ideals are achieved. Robins lay powder blue eggs. This is the color associated with the link to heavenly inspiration. Because our main function is to express the will of God and the egg is symbolic of new life, this helpful little bird teaches us how to assert the creative will of God in all we do. It leads us into new beginnings without fear by restoring faith within our hearts.

You are probably wondering why I am telling you this story about a robin. Mom spent her last days downstairs in a room connected to the sun room. A robin would come and peck at us through the glass ceiling. I finally got curious enough after the second or third day and wondered if there was significance. This robin kept pecking away at the glass as if it were trying to tell me something. The next day, this bird was there again, it was pouring down the rain, but it continued to peck at the window. Why are you here my feathered friend? I asked. It's pouring down the rain, and I am sure you have somewhere to go.. Still the pecking continued. I became so curious I just had to find out why this bird was here and why it insisted on staying. What I read to you about the robin is what I found. I believe this bird was here as a symbol to help my mother find her way to a divine connection with Our Father, Our Saviour Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. I praise God for sending this little bird as a reminder to His strength. A reminder to His divine intervention. A reminder to His Love and how He and only He can make us see the light within. My mom was a very dovoted Catholic, and went to church every week, and every Holy day. She also loved her brother, Father Highland, very much, and was very saddened by not having him here for her during this difficult time she faced. She had a strong Faith and loved life as well as God. As I look back at the times we shared and all the places we went together, all the time we spent together, her main priority was getting to church. My mom was a wonderful mother to all of her children and saw that none of us went without. She raised us as loving, giving people and directed us to God's light as best she knew how. She loved her grandchildren and her great grandchildren, and told me she just wanted to see her great grand babies grow up. She even loved her grand dogs, and was in awe over Zephaniah, my pup, and wondered what he would eventually grow up to be like as well. I could stand here all day and share things with you about my mom. She sang like a robin, with a happy song and a happy heart. I could have sat and listened to her sing all day, and often times would join right in with her, and I'll never forget the do do do's when we forgot the words. The Christmas songs were the best sung together, but I even remember as a child she would rock me and sing to me. I told her about how I remembered that just before she passed away, and it brought a smile to her face. We will miss her as a mother, a grandmother, and a great grandmother, she was our best friend and was with us always.
Our memories of her will live with us forever.
God bless you Mom.

Jude · Foot-Loose · Courtland & Cameron

Mom and Dad · Kahn & Zep · Zeke & Maya · Bella

Zephaniah · My Uncle · Links

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