Obituary for
Wesley W. Schuettpelz
Wes was born June 21, 1925 in Wessington Springs, South Dakota to Wesley and Clara Schuettpelz. The family moved to Spearfish, SD when Wes was 4 years old and there he attended grades 1-12. Summer seasons during high school found Wes working on his cousin’s Iowa farm.
In 1945 Wes joined the Army and served in Korea and the Philippines. Wes was honorably discharged in 1947. After his service in the Army, Wes worked in the logging industry in Wyoming. Later in 1947 he also worked in the gold mine in Lead, SD traveling in a gondola hundreds of feet below the earth’s surface each day to reach the mine site.
In 1947 when Shirley Smith and a girl friend stopped at the local hang-out for a coke, Shirley met Wes Schuettpelz. Shirley and Wes were married in Spearfish, SD in June of 1948.
In September of 1950, Wes and Shirley moved to Tillamook, OR where Wes began working in a saw mill. He later worked at a plywood mill in Garibaldi, OR. During their time in Tillamook, they were blessed with the birth of their red-headed son Gary.
In 1954 the family of 3 moved to Laramie, WY where they ran the Denver Post Distribution. Wes next held a position as a Mail Clerk on the union Pacific Railroad between Ogden, UT and Cheyenne, WY. After 3 months in Cheyenne, Wes was transferred to the Ogden, UT Post Office unit.
When Gary was 6, Wes & Shirley purchased their first camper. Over the years the family of three enjoyed camping excursions to many sites. Wes & Shirley have traveled to every state in the Union except Alaska. They also traveled to Canada, Hawaii, Mazitlan and Cancun, Mexico.
In 1967 mail began being transported by air rather than rail so Wes was transferred to Salem, OR 25th Street Main Post Office. The family lived in the Northeast of Salem until purchasing a 5 acre plot in the country near Aumsville, OR. Wes enjoyed the gentleman farmers life planting fruit & nut trees, landscaping the acreage with flowers and shrubs, planting and harvesting a garden and raising 2 calves each year.
Wes retired from the post office in 1985 and Shirley retired from Agrippac, Inc. in 1989.
In 1991 they sold their acreage and moved to their South Salem home. Wes became tired of the rainy winters so they became snowbirds and spent the next 17 winters enjoying warm, sunny Yuma, AZ. With their new found Arizona friends, they went on excursions and played lots of games including Mexican Train and Pinochle. Wes was a very skilled Pinochle player and he was always ready for a game of Pinochle! They enjoyed all of their new friends in Arizona all the while keeping up with their family and friends in Salem, OR and various South Dakota areas.
In April of 2015 Wes and Shirley sold their South Salem home and moved to a cottage at the Lancaster Village Retirement Community.
Wes, 91, passed away April 6th, 2017 at Tierra Rose Care Center. He is survived by Shirley his wife of 68 years, son Gary, grandson Wesley J., and step-grandson Steve Lainez of Turner, OR., sister Avelda (Jerrol) Kluherz, brothers-in-law, Perry (Carol) Smith, Rapid City, SD, Robert Smith, Union Center, SD, Tom (Linda) Smith, New Underwood, SD, Harold (Debbie) Delbridge, Phillip, SD, sisters-in-law Nylia (Harold) Severson, Rapid City, SD, Edna Smith, Sturgis, SD, and Delores Smith, New Underwood, SD, Wes also leaves behind many nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends.
Wes was preceded in death by his parents, baby brother Raymond, sisters-in-law Karen Delbridge, SD, and Kay Smith, SD, brothers-in-law Jack Smith and Keith Smith of SD.
Services will be held Saturday April 22 at 1:00 pm at Liberty Christian Church, 4764 Skyline road South, Salem, OR.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Salvation Army, Liberty Christian Church, or Kindred Hospice Home.
