Chaplain (Colonel) John W Schumacher (U.S. Army, Retired) went to his heavenly home on February 5, 2021. He was born in Osceola, Indiana, on June 21, 1934, to Herman John Schumacher and Julia Beatrice (Needham) Schumacher. He married Martha Ann (Catching) Schumacher on June 8, 1957, in Springfield, MO. Together they raised four children, Laurie (Lou Huesmann), Julie, John (Christine),and Eric (Janetta) and have eight grandchildren and one great grandson. Those who knew him knew how much he loved his family.
To watch John Schumacher's Memorial Service please Click Here on this hyperlink I have prepared for you.
John graduated from Bob Jones University with a degree in education which he used for three years before answering God’s call to full time Christian service. He attended Grace Theological Seminary in preparation for ministry in the Army chaplaincy. During his 30 years of active military service, he also earned a Master’s degree from Long Island University. He had two combat tours in Vietnam. He is a graduate of the U.S Army Command and General Staff College, and the United States Army War College where he later was assigned as faculty to teach Ethics. He served in several senior chaplain positions but never forgot serving the soldiers in their units. He is the author of A SOLDIER OF GOD REMEMBERS.
After his retirement from the Army, the Schumachers eventually moved to the Phoenix area where John served as a chaplain for three different law enforcement agencies. He also represented his denomination for 22 years as the Endorsing Agent with the Department of Defense and for those applying to enter the military chaplaincy.
John had a love for hunting and fishing….especially in his beloved Alaska, where he served for 22 years as part of the volunteer staff and as the chaplain for the fishing camp.
John was preceded in death by his, father, Herman, mother, Beatrice, three brothers, and one sister. He is survived by his wife of 63 years, his four children, grandchildren, great grandson, and a sister, Phyllis Smith, of Winona Lake, Indiana.
John will be laid to rest at the National Memorial Cemetery of Arizona with military honors.
A Celebration of Life Service will be held at Palmcroft Baptist Church, 15825 North Bell Road Phoenix, Arizona 85053 On March 22nd at 11:00 AM. Due to the current Covid 19 situation, the family is requesting everyone wears a mask and practices social distancing.
Donations in John's memory may be made to Alzheimer's Association or the Eagle Commission.
[Editor's Comment: I met John Schumacher in the summer of 1961 at the Army Chaplain Officer Basic Course at Fort Slocumb, NY on David's Island off the shore of New Rochelle. We had to take a ferry boat to get there. It took approximately 30 minutes to get the the island.
John and I became friends from the start. John sang for worship services where we attended off the post. He was energic, resourceful, and joyful. He was an exceptional singer and had a clear and melodious tenor voice. In our group was Ray Caulder from South Carolina. We attended a Pentecostal church in New Rochelle and an Assemblies of God church in Stamford, Connecticut, on Long Island Sound. John was an ordained minister of Grace Brethren Churches, and Ray was an ordained minister in the Pentecostal Holiness Church and the pastor of an IPHC church in Columbia, SC. Ray was a gifted pianist and organist.
As it would be as time marched along, I met John Schumacher again in Washington, DC, at the annual conference of the NAE Chaplains Commission. He was the endorser for his denomination, and I for the IPHC. John was a gifted leader and rose to be the Chairman of the NAE Chaplains Commission. As I recall he succeeded David Peterson as our chairman, the chaplain to General Norman Schwarzkopf in Iraq. David was an ordained minister of the Reformed Presbyterian Churches of North America. Also, Jim Edgren who was the executive director of NAE Commission on Chaplains.
On two occasions, I drove to White Sulphur Springs, Pennsylvania, to the Retreat Center of Officers’ Christian Fellowship, located in the foothills of the Allegheny mountains near the town of Bedford, Pennsylvania. The purpose was a training conference for evangelical military chaplains. This community is the home of General Clay and Clara Buckingham. They are great entertainers and they invited us to a wonderful dinner to watch the annual Army/Navy Football Game. Clay is a brother to the late Jamie Buckingham, a former writer for Charisma magazine.
I kept in touch with John over the years by telephone. Melvine and I had met Martha, John's wife. I called and talked with her on Tuesday, April 6 after she wrote me with a link to John's Memorial Service.
I watched the memorial service for John Schumacher in its entirety. I learned more from the tributes of his four children, two daughters and two sons, than I ever knew. What a great husband, father, grandfather, and friend to soldiers.
It was my honor and privilege to work with Dr. Garnet Pike in developing a curriculum for a Master's degree program at Southwestern Christian University for future military chaplains. One of the courses the Department of Defense required was a course in Christian ethics. John had taught Ethics at the Army War College for several years. I invited him, with Dr. Pike's permission, to teach a course in Christian Ethics. He came and taught for about two weeks. He returned the check for his teaching back to the university. John Schumacher was a giver and not a taker.
My friends are dying and going to heaven. I bless John Schumacher's memory and honor this great man of God this day.
The Bible says,
"Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on."
"Yes," says the Spirit, "they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them."
(Rev 14:13, NIV).
To watch John Schumacher's Memorial Service please Click Here on this hyperlink I have prepared for you.
John graduated from Bob Jones University with a degree in education which he used for three years before answering God’s call to full time Christian service. He attended Grace Theological Seminary in preparation for ministry in the Army chaplaincy. During his 30 years of active military service, he also earned a Master’s degree from Long Island University. He had two combat tours in Vietnam. He is a graduate of the U.S Army Command and General Staff College, and the United States Army War College where he later was assigned as faculty to teach Ethics. He served in several senior chaplain positions but never forgot serving the soldiers in their units. He is the author of A SOLDIER OF GOD REMEMBERS.
After his retirement from the Army, the Schumachers eventually moved to the Phoenix area where John served as a chaplain for three different law enforcement agencies. He also represented his denomination for 22 years as the Endorsing Agent with the Department of Defense and for those applying to enter the military chaplaincy.
John had a love for hunting and fishing….especially in his beloved Alaska, where he served for 22 years as part of the volunteer staff and as the chaplain for the fishing camp.
John was preceded in death by his, father, Herman, mother, Beatrice, three brothers, and one sister. He is survived by his wife of 63 years, his four children, grandchildren, great grandson, and a sister, Phyllis Smith, of Winona Lake, Indiana.
John will be laid to rest at the National Memorial Cemetery of Arizona with military honors.
A Celebration of Life Service will be held at Palmcroft Baptist Church, 15825 North Bell Road Phoenix, Arizona 85053 On March 22nd at 11:00 AM. Due to the current Covid 19 situation, the family is requesting everyone wears a mask and practices social distancing.
Donations in John's memory may be made to Alzheimer's Association or the Eagle Commission.
[Editor's Comment: I met John Schumacher in the summer of 1961 at the Army Chaplain Officer Basic Course at Fort Slocumb, NY on David's Island off the shore of New Rochelle. We had to take a ferry boat to get there. It took approximately 30 minutes to get the the island.
John and I became friends from the start. John sang for worship services where we attended off the post. He was energic, resourceful, and joyful. He was an exceptional singer and had a clear and melodious tenor voice. In our group was Ray Caulder from South Carolina. We attended a Pentecostal church in New Rochelle and an Assemblies of God church in Stamford, Connecticut, on Long Island Sound. John was an ordained minister of Grace Brethren Churches, and Ray was an ordained minister in the Pentecostal Holiness Church and the pastor of an IPHC church in Columbia, SC. Ray was a gifted pianist and organist.
As it would be as time marched along, I met John Schumacher again in Washington, DC, at the annual conference of the NAE Chaplains Commission. He was the endorser for his denomination, and I for the IPHC. John was a gifted leader and rose to be the Chairman of the NAE Chaplains Commission. As I recall he succeeded David Peterson as our chairman, the chaplain to General Norman Schwarzkopf in Iraq. David was an ordained minister of the Reformed Presbyterian Churches of North America. Also, Jim Edgren who was the executive director of NAE Commission on Chaplains.
On two occasions, I drove to White Sulphur Springs, Pennsylvania, to the Retreat Center of Officers’ Christian Fellowship, located in the foothills of the Allegheny mountains near the town of Bedford, Pennsylvania. The purpose was a training conference for evangelical military chaplains. This community is the home of General Clay and Clara Buckingham. They are great entertainers and they invited us to a wonderful dinner to watch the annual Army/Navy Football Game. Clay is a brother to the late Jamie Buckingham, a former writer for Charisma magazine.
I kept in touch with John over the years by telephone. Melvine and I had met Martha, John's wife. I called and talked with her on Tuesday, April 6 after she wrote me with a link to John's Memorial Service.
I watched the memorial service for John Schumacher in its entirety. I learned more from the tributes of his four children, two daughters and two sons, than I ever knew. What a great husband, father, grandfather, and friend to soldiers.
It was my honor and privilege to work with Dr. Garnet Pike in developing a curriculum for a Master's degree program at Southwestern Christian University for future military chaplains. One of the courses the Department of Defense required was a course in Christian ethics. John had taught Ethics at the Army War College for several years. I invited him, with Dr. Pike's permission, to teach a course in Christian Ethics. He came and taught for about two weeks. He returned the check for his teaching back to the university. John Schumacher was a giver and not a taker.
My friends are dying and going to heaven. I bless John Schumacher's memory and honor this great man of God this day.
The Bible says,
"Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on."
"Yes," says the Spirit, "they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them."
(Rev 14:13, NIV).