t-birds
My father-in-law, Walt Schulenberg was such a sweet man, and I miss him very much. He had a gentle yet funny personality, and he was a friend to anyone who knew him. I think that was what made it easy to meet him that first time. When you go to your future in-laws’ home for the first time, you are naturally nervous, but he made me feel at ease, and I have loved him like a second dad ever since. My life was so blessed. I had parents who loved me and who were so good to me, and then I got in-laws that anyone would love to have. How did I get so blessed? I think it was his great personality that made my father-in-law a beloved employee wherever he worked.
My father-in-law held a number of jobs over the years, and even the years that I knew him. He worked as a mechanic for Pathfinder Mines (uranium) for a number of years. He quit once an went to work elsewhere, before deciding to go back for a time before switching to maintenance work for Casper College in the mid 80s. While he enjoyed many of his jobs, I think that the years he drove bus for the Casper College T-Birds were some of his favorite years. Not only did he enjoy the students he transported to games, but he got to see some places he might not have been able to see otherwise, and it didn’t cost him anything to go…in fact, he was paid for it. That works.
His working career was long and varied, but I think his retirement years were his real favorites. He had a barn shop in the back yard of his house, and it was there that he got his tinkering fix. He loved to make things and was a skilled carpenter, lawn chair refurbisher, toy maker, rock layer, and a number of other things. He was 
always coming up with new ideas, both for gifts and to sell at the craft fairs his wife Joann Schulenberg and daughter, Brenda Schulenberg loved to do. My father-in-law was a very social person, and really enjoys talking to people. He could often be found standing out in his front yard visiting with people who would stop to look at his wind yard ornaments. It was his recreation, of sorts. He needed that…right up to the end. Today would have been my father-in-law’s 94th birthday. Happy birthday in Heaven, Dad. We love and miss you very much.
It is so hard for me to believe that as of today, it has been three years since Walter Schulenberg, my father-in-law, left us to go to Heaven. For 38 years he had been such an integral part of my life. From the first time I met him, he made me feel welcome. It was as if I had been a part of this family all my life. My father-in-law had such a gentle, kind way about him. I really don’t think that there was a single person that ever considered him anything but a friend. He just wasn’t the kind of man to create enemies…just more and more friends. His laugh alone was a friend making machine.
My father-in-law worked assorted jobs over the years, but his last job before retiring 
was with Casper College, where he was officially in maintanence, but in reality he was a jack of all trades. I have to think that one of the jobs he did at the College, if you could call it a job, was to drive the bus for the T-Birds. He went on a number of trips with them, and saw some great places. He got to see the ocean again. It was not the first time by any means, but he did love the ocean, and really enjoyed walking in the sand with his bare feet, something you seldom saw anywhere else. He almost always had shoes on.
He was the kind of man who would go out of his way to help others, and did his best not to ask for anythng in 
return. Nevertheless, in his last few years, he and my mother-in-law, Joann Schulenberg needed help. He had Emphesyma and she had Alzheimer’s disease. The family stepped in to help, and I had the ability to be the main caregiver. I say ability, but in reality, it was a blessing to me. We became so close over those last years, and it is a time that, even though it was the ending days of his life, I still cherish. I wish those hadn’t been the last years of his life, but I am thankful for the close relationship my being over at their house so much created. He said I was a blessing to him, but I think it was the other way around. Dad, I can’t believe you have been gone for three years already. We love and miss you very much.
