Expressions of Giving
Edith Schuchardt: a life of courage and love remembered
"The Edith Elisabeth Schuchardt Memorial Fund has become one of the driving forces of my life," says J. Andrew Schuchardt.
Edith Elisabeth Schuchardt was a person of unusual courage who showed kindness to all she met. It is in this spirit of caring and love that her husband, J. Andrew Schuchardt, established a fund in her memory at Loma Linda University Medical Center.
Growing up in the German province of Saxony during the 1930s and 1940s, Edie Bauer encountered many hardships and the horrors of war. Following the war, hunger was the worst problem in her Soviet-occupied city of Leipzig; food was simply not available. So Edie made periodic dangerous and illegal forays to the West for food.
As the years went on, the Iron Curtain was drawn. Rather than be transferred to a new job in Czechoslovakia--an order most viewed as a likely death sentence--Edie said good-bye to her parents and sister and escaped through mine fields to the freedom of the West. Edie then made her way to Bremerhaven, a German port city where her good friend Ilse worked. This friend soon emigrated to the United States and, after several years, convinced Edie to do the same.
On the ship to New York in 1958, Edie met Andy Schuchardt, a student from Columbia University who was heading home after a summer in Germany. While crossing the Atlantic, they spent much of their time getting acquainted. Three years later they were married.
In 1965 the Schuchardts moved from New York to San Francisco. Although they loved California, the move began a series of relocations as Mr. Schuchardt's civil engineering career took them to various places throughout the world. With each move, Mrs. Schuchardt always made a pleasant home and formed many life-long friendships with her caring spirit and community involvements.
Mrs. Schuchardt loved children. During their years in Brazil, she actively became involved to help meet the needs of local poor children. Even after leaving the country, the Schuchardts financially supported an orphanage there for many years.
In the fall of 1993, after a lifetime of work and service throughout the world, the Schuchardts settled in Redmond, Washington. Less than three years later, Mrs. Schuchardt passed away.
To perpetuate her life of giving to others, Mr. Schuchardt established the Edith Elisabeth Schuchardt Memorial Fund at Loma Linda University Medical Center. Annual gifts of $20,000 allow the Transplantation Institute to provide free hepatitis screenings, education, and treatment for people who cannot afford this care.
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