Wauseon teacher encouraged students to embrace reading

7/30/2006

WAUSEON - Lois May Schwall, 78, a retired teacher and librarian who volunteered for church and community, died of apparent heart failure Wednesday in Toledo Hospital.

Her teaching career spanned about 45 years.

Mrs. Schwall taught junior high school English and literature and high school science and history in Wauseon public schools for 28 years, from the mid 1960s until retiring in 1993. Mrs. Schwall also was the head librarian in the Wauseon Junior High Library for about 10 years before retiring.

She previously taught for public schools in Worthington, Ohio, where her teaching career began in 1949.

Mrs. Schwall also served on the Wauseon Public Library Board and volunteered for the American Heart Association.

A native of Clairton, Pa., Mrs. Schwall, whose maiden name was Snee, graduated from high school at the top of her class in Clairton.

She later got a bachelor's degree from Ohio Northern University and a master's degree from Bowling Green State University, both in education. She also took additional courses at Adrian College.

Her son, Thomas DeFord Schwall, said Mrs. Schwall is best remembered in Wauseon as a teacher of junior high English and literature.

"She was an institution," Mr. Schwall said. "She had taught several generations of students. And she was very particular about the use of the English language. She wanted her students to be able to express themselves clearly and correctly, and she wanted to instill in them love of reading and enjoyment of literature."

In her free time, Mrs. Schwall enjoyed music, reading, planting flowers, landscaping, collecting antiques, and traveling.

Mrs. Schwall was a member of Christ United Methodist Church, Wauseon, where she taught Sunday school and summer Bible school.

Her other memberships included the Janus Circle of the Wauseon CCL, of which she was a founding member, and the Delta Gamma teachers' organization.

Surviving are her husband, DeFord R. Schwall; daughter, Susan Jane Schwall; son, Thomas DeFord Schwall; six grandchildren; two step-granddaughters, and a great-grandson.

Services will be at 11 a.m. Saturday in Christ United Methodist Church, Wauseon. There will be no visitation. The Edgar-Grisier Funeral Home, Wauseon, is handling arrangements.

The family suggests tributes to the Lois Schwall Educational Scholarship Fund, Wauseon.