Florence A. Schumacher

Florence (Ulledahl) Schumacher passed away peacefully in her home on August 18 at the age of 92.  Born April 27, 1930, in Plaza, North Dakota, Florence was the second child of Reinhard and Edna (Anderson) Ulledahl.  Mom grew up on a farm with her sister, Deloris, and two brothers, Orville and Vernon.  She attended a one-room schoolhouse in Wabek, and after the eighth grade, transferred to Parshall High School, graduating with the Class of 1947. 

A very young Florence moved to Bismarck and worked as an accountant and stenographer for the Commercial Accounting Service Company.  In 1952, she met a most handsome bachelor, Max Schumacher.  On October 11, 1954, they married at the Trinity Lutheran Church in Bismarck.  When Max began employment with Traveler’s Insurance Company, the newlyweds moved to Kansas City in 1955 and started their family.  Along the way, with transfers taking them to Sioux City, Sioux Falls, and in 1970, to Great Falls (in “the Court”), they had seven children: Sarah, Sandy, Kerry, Kelly, Jim, Steve and Joe. 

Parenting a large family left Mom little time to do much else…but (finally!) when her children were raised, Mom’s passions emerged: singing, gardening and giving back to the community.  Mom’s love of singing began during her childhood at the First Lutheran Church in Wabek, where she sang with the church choir.  In 1985, she was a founding member of the Great Falls women’s barbershop chorus, Sweet Adelines.  When that disbanded a decade later, she went on to become a founding member of the local women’s chorus, Sound of the Falls. She retired from singing at the age of 87.

Her volunteer activities included the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center, Great Falls Children’s Receiving Home, Peace Hospice, and Voices of Hope Crisis Line.  In 1998, she received the YWCA’s annual Salute to Women Volunteer Community Service award.  Mom retired from her last volunteer job, in the kitchen at Peace Hospice House, aged 89.  Our mother was a nurturing spirit, and so it followed that she became a Master Gardener and spent many contented years tending her colorful flower beds highlighted by pink roses. 

Florence is survived by daughters Sarah and Sandy (Doug), sons Jim (Julie), Steve (Renae), Joe (Erin); her brother Orville, son-in-law Mark Vandegrift, and grandchildren Griffin, Ethan, Max, Jack, Nolan, Ash Lee, and Sadie.

Mom spent the last nine months of her life in home hospice care.  Our family would like to thank our Peace Hospice team for the gentle care you brought into Mom’s home four days a week.

A memorial gathering will be held on Thursday, September 8, at 2:00 in the History Museum Ozark Room, 422 2 St. South.  Florence’s remains will be interred alongside Kerry, Max, and Kelly at the Fairview Cemetery in Bismarck.

In lieu of flowers our family suggests memorial donations to Voices of Hope Crisis Line, the Great Falls Children’s Receiving Home, Peace Hospice, or any charity meaningful to you. 

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Florence A. Schumacher, please visit our floral store.