Rudy Peter Schuver

Col. Rudy Peter Schuver, US Army, retired, died 8 August 2023 in Enumclaw, Washington.

Rudy, the son of Joseph Conrad Schuver and Eleanore Christina Oberbroeckling, was born 19 October 1931, in Granville, Iowa, the third of six children. He was the last surviving member of his birth family. He graduated from St. Joseph High School in Granville in 1948 and attended Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa. While at Iowa State he met his lifelong love, Cora Winona Wessel. They married at St Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church in Ames, on 26 March 1951.

Rudy joined the U.S. Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) program at ISU and upon graduation in March 1953, as a distinguished graduate, was awarded a Regular Army commission as a Second Lieutenant in the Artillery Branch. He served in Korea, Germany, Vietnam, Japan and Okinawa as well as the Pentagon and numerous other military installations in the United States. He is a graduate of the Army Command and General Staff College and the Naval War College. He also earned an MBA from Syracuse University in 1966. Upon obtaining his MBA, Rudy began work in finance and the comptroller division of the Army.

Over the first 25 years of their marriage, Rudy and Winona moved 25 times and lived in 25 different places. They had 9 children, 1 daughter and 8 sons, who were born in various stations all over the US and the world. At the time of Rudy’s military retirement from Fort Monroe, Virginia, they had 7 children still living at home.

Throughout his 24 years of Army service, Rudy received the following decorations and medals: Legion of Merit; Bronze Star Medal, Meritorious Service Medal with one Oak Leaf Cluster; Army Commendation Medal with one Oak Leaf Cluster; National Defense Service Medal with one Oak Leaf Cluster; Korean Service Medal; Vietnam Service Medal with two Bronze Service Stars; United Nations Service Medal; and Vietnam Campaign Medal. Rudy retired from the Army on 1 July 1976 with the rank of Colonel.

In the summer of 1976, Rudy and Winona and their 7 children camped their way across the country to the Pacific Northwest, where they had never been before. They settled in Renton, Washington, and set up a real estate business. Rudy also worked as an insurance broker and after 13 years in Renton, they retired a second time and moved to the coast at Long Beach, Washington.

Living at the coast, Rudy’s lifelong passion for photography was fostered as he and Winona became avid birders. They traveled across the country several times, as well as around the world to Europe, Africa, South America and Antarctica, birding and taking pictures.

Rudy was a founding member and became the first president of the Friends of Willapa National Wildlife Refuge on Long Beach. He and Winona volunteered for the refuge for over ten years.

Rudy’s interest in photography lead to another interest, matting and framing fine art. He and Winona, along with two sons, opened a framing business in Astoria, Oregon, where they were able to frame his own photos, but also provide that service to others.

In 2005 they packed up and moved once again to Enumclaw, Washington, where they have resided for the past 18 years. 

Rudy is survived by his wife of 72 ½ years C. Winona Schuver, who lives in Enumclaw, and by nine children, 17 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

Survivors include: Peter in California and his daughter Shantasa, and her daughters, Serenity and Emerald; Peggy Borkowski and her husband Randy in Seattle and their sons, Isaac, Benjamin, Jared and Jacob, and Ben’s children Boran and Nora; Charles and his wife Mary in North Carolina and their daughters Alyse and Cory; Henry and his wife Bazetta in Pennsylvania; Nicholas in Atlanta, Georgia; Rudy H. and his wife Megan in Portland, Oregon and their children Amelia, Frances, Christopher, Adelaide and Samuel; William and his wife Kristin in Enumclaw and their children Meagan and Austin, and Meagan’s children Axel and Emelie; George and his wife Elizabeth in Atlanta and his children Conrad, Hoyt and Talley; and Robert in Enumclaw.

Inurnment will take place at Tahoma National Cemetery  in Kent, Washington on 10 October 2023 at 11:30 am. The family will gather privately afterward.

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