Literally, in the case of my Rotary club. I'm at that point in my life where death overshadows life, in that I'm old enough that some of the people I hang out with, well, they wear out, and in my family, at least, the next generation has not yet entered their child-bearing-and-raising stage. Since none of them are yet married, though a couple are, um, "practicing," I'm not complaining. So funerals predominate. Such was the case this week, when fellow Rotarian (and the second of my two mentors-in-Rotary) slipped from "Senior Active" to "Career Completed."
The colors are at half-staff again, at Castle Argghhh!
Colonel Robert "the Baron" von Schlemmer, 83, of Leavenworth, passed away on Memorial Day, Monday, May 26, 2008. If you're a soldier, not a bad day to die, if the time has come to lay your tools aside.
The Baron (as he was called throughout his military career) was born in Long Beach, California in 1925. Baron attended Hollywood High School (how cool is that, eh?) and was drafted into World War II out of Los Angeles City College Art School. He served as a medic, earning a Combat Medical Badge fighting in the Pacific and CBI theaters.
He attended UCLA on the GI Bill and attained the rank of cadet colonel and was a Distinguished Military Graduate in the Army ROTC program there. After school and service in Korea, where he earned a Combat Infantryman's Badge to go with his CMB, he married Joanne Paul in 1951. The von Schlemmers had a pretty classic WWII-generation military career in the Infantry. They served overseas and around the nation a lot - Joanne gave birth to children in Okinawa, Japan; Fort Benning, Georgia; Frankfurt, Germany; and Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
His career was split between schooling at Fort Benning and Fort Leavenworth, and infantry and intelligence jobs in the US, overseas, and he got stuck at the Pentagon, as most Colonels do. His career included commands in Korea and notably with the Old Guard in Washington, D.C., for President Kennedy. If you've seen the footage of President Kennedy's funeral - you've seen the Baron's work. After more than 30 years service to the nation, he retired from the Army to continue his service in a different vein - to his adopted home of Leavenworth and Fort Leavenworth.
He and Joanne spent years sponsoring officers from around the world who were attending the Command and General Staff College. Sponsorship means they picked up the officers and their families at the airport, helped them get settled and through the bureaucratic maze of getting an identity established in the US - housing, banks, cars, licenses, etc. They sponsored officers from all over the world, especially the Middle East and Northern Africa — a part of the world that Baron loved and whose cultures he greatly respected. Every summer, he taught "American" to the teenage sons and daughters of visiting officers.
Baron was a committed historian and a good teller of the story, serving as the preferred tour guide of the fort and the surrounding area for visiting dignitaries and performed in the “Living Museum” in downtown. He also served this community through work with the Kansas Governor's Board of Tourism and Leavenworth Convention and Visitors Bureau. He recently received the Tourism Ambassador award from the Leavenworth Convention and Visitor's Bureau. Robert was an active Mason with the Scottish Rite, Hancock Lodge. He was dedicated to the Rotary Club of Leavenworth, High 12 Club and the Acacia Fraternity, UCLA Chapter.
Not to worry, the Baron's legacy of service and care has been well-established. He is survived by his wife, Joanne; his daughter, Gretchen of Sonora, Calif.; and his sons, Paul of Ridgecrest, Calif., Kurt of Kansas City, Mo., and Mark of Lawrence, Kan., and their families. He had six grandchildren and recently one great-grandchild - and all those soldiers, US and foreign, who served with him or who were, in a sense, served by him - and he is well-remembered in the community, where he had a real, day-to-day impact, where he lived up to, no, exemplified, the motto of Rotary...
Service above Self.
Rotary meets Wednesdays for lunch at the Riverfront Community Center in Leavenworth. Baron's visitation is at the RCC today.
I'll see ya for lunch today at the Riverfront, one last time, Baron. To say goodbye.
Now is the time at Castle Argghhh! when we dance: In Memoriam for Colonel Robert von Schlemmer.
Update: I'm back from the service, which was actually great fun, to see pictures of the Baron before I knew him. It brought back a lot of memories of "Growing Up Army." Some of you may read this and think to yourself, "Okay, got it - important to you, nice guy, etc - but other than that, so what?"
Well, leaving aside all the other answers, I'll provide this, as a direct answer, especially to those of you who live in the area, or are soldiers.
This. This is a direct impact.
There was a representative from former General and Secretary of State Colin Powell at the service. Bob von Schlemmer is mentioned more than once in General Powell's book - because while others took the public face of the project... Bob von Schlemmer is one of the key people behind why there is a Buffalo Soldier Monument at Fort Leavenworth - and it would be a far different looking monument if not for his "devil's advocacy" regarding the design. That alone is a lasting legacy worth noting.
Fare thee well, thou good and faithful servant.
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