Barbara Schoell, beloved wife of Richard Schoell, passed away suddenly Sept. 6, 2016, at Baptist Medical Center Nassau in Fernandina Beach.
She was born Nov. 10, 1937, in Buffalo, N.Y., the daughter of William and Edna Gipple.
Barbara graduated from D’Youville College and received her Master of Education postgraduate degree from the University of Buffalo, Class of 1963. Following graduate school, she married Richard Schoell on Aug. 17, 1963.
For several years, she taught deaf students at St. Mary’s School for the Deaf in Buffalo, and over the next 20 years she periodically worked with disabled children part-time in New Jersey and Massachusetts school systems.
Barbara touched so many lives. She was a warm, compassionate and gentle person with an ever-present sense of humor. She was always ready to help anyone in need and this continued throughout her life, as she volunteered in many community service organizations.
Barbara and Richard had three sons and had lived in New York, Massachusetts and New Jersey. Barbara was always "dressed for success," putting her best foot forward in all she did. In Sparta, N.J., they developed, and Barbara managed, Great Bodies by Design, a ladies’ exercise and clothing salon company. They also licensed and provided equipment and consulting services to seven other locations in northern New Jersey. Both husband and wife have been licensed Realtors since 1993, initially in the Boston area and for the last 11 years on Amelia Island, working with SeaHorse Properties.
Barbara was preceded in death by her son, Matthew, in 2011.
She is survived by her devoted husband, Richard; two sons, Eric, 51, of Kingston, Mass., and Jon, 47, and wife Jill of Marshfield Hills, Mass. She also leaves three grandchildren, Jocelyn and Carter Schoell of Marshfield Hills and Katrina Schoell of Wethersfield, Conn., and a brother, William Gipple of Hamburg, N.Y.
A funeral Mass will be held at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 22, at St. Michael Catholic Church, at the corner of North Fourth and Broome streets. It will be followed by a reception at the church social hall at 11 a.m.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Jocelyn & Carter Schoell Educational Trust, c/o Jon Schoell, 31 Deer Hill Lane, Marshfield, MA 02050.
Oxley-Heard Funeral Directors