Judith Ann Prestwood Schulz
Judith Ann Prestwood Schulz died about noon on Sunday, October 22, 2023, as a result of Alzheimer’s disease. She was diagnosed with it three years ago this Thanksgiving, but suffered the gradual onset of symptoms for many years. She was able to live out her life at home under the primary care of her husband of 62 years, Robert Edward Schulz, and die in her own bedroom as comfortably as the circumstances of the disease would allow.
She is survived by her husband, their four sons, Chris, Rob, Andy and Terry, seven grandchildren, Zach, Amber, Jasper, Ellie, Cooper, Theo and Mike, three great-grandchildren, Eliza, Adeline and James, and her younger brother, Barry Prestwood.
Ann was born in Chattanooga, on Feb. 4, 1942. Her parents were Amon and Ruth Prestwood, a machinist and a mother and homemaker. She was the middle child between two brothers, the older, Roger, now deceased, and the younger, Barry. She graduated from Chattanooga High School in 1960 and shortly thereafter enlisted in the Air Force serving in the field of medical administration. At tech school in Lackland AFB in San Antonio, TX she met her husband to be, Robert. They were married at their next assignment on Gunter AFB in Montgomery, AL on her birthday in 1961.
Over the course of the next five years Ann gave birth to four boys, Christopher Alan on the island of Okinawa, James Robert in Ft. Atkinson, WI, Charles Andrew in Limestone, ME and Terrence Edward in Cheyenne, WY. In 1969 after eight years of service in the AF and about as many moves around the country they bought a house in Manchester Park, a suburb of Chattanooga, TN. It is here that she and her husband, Bob, lived the remaining 54 years of her life. It is here that she did her life’s work of making a home for her family, raising her four kids.
Mom always said that having children is just what she wanted to do. That simple, and that is what she did, four of us, fast and furious. What did mom do? Getting four kids on the bus every morning in a house with one bathroom, cooking dinner every night, loads of laundry, bandaging wounds, quelling arguments, making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, more loads of laundry, grocery shopping, taking us to the library to check out books, reminding us that our tongues will turn black if we tell a lie, lining us up for haircuts on the kitchen stool, a trip to feed the ducks at the lake, a reminder to say your prayers at bedtime and in the morning holding a thermometer under the tongue of a child hoping to have a fever so as to stay home from school and watch the Price is Right on TV.
She worked hard to make something that just can’t be bought, she made a home. In a word, Mom was a rock. She was solid, dependable, always there. She accepted each of us, her children, for who we are, was kind and thoughtful, cared deeply about our well-being without expectations or conditions. She had incredible strength and determination, very intelligent, but quietly so. She was really just a wonderful Mom. The ripples of warmth, compassion and reason that emanate from her life are going strong. I can see them vividly in her progeny. I know that was her plan all along, so it makes me happy to know that she succeeded.
Aside from being the rudder that kept the unruly ship that is our family on course, Mom loved to garden. She and Dad turned the scruffy half acre of crabgrass around our house into an oasis of flowers, shrubs and trees, birds, bees and squirrels. It is a living testament of her quiet work. She loved hiking, loved being in the mountains of southern Appalachia. She loved wildflowers and knew many of their names, where and when you might find them blooming. She drew peace and strength from nature along with scriptures from the Bible and devotional reading. Nature was her church, not in a building.
She liked having coffee on the back porch, she liked playing Scrabble. She liked gas stations with clean bathrooms. She liked listening to music, especially piano. She really liked the piano, played a little. She loved visiting her grandparent’s house on Liberty St. as a child and remembered the chickens in the yard. She liked doing some of the puzzles in the newspaper, the crytoquote, the crossword. She liked to read. And she really loved to travel. Both my parents had that urge to know what’s around the next bend, and so we went and had a look pretty often. Their mutual willingness to make life adventurous took us to a lot of nice places as kids. Mom was almost always up for the trip and put a lot of work into making it happen. I remember our camping trips as being very happy times.
That was all a good while back now. Alzheirmer’s was a very harsh way to have to go. Her mind, her memory, her personality eroded away with the advancement of the disease, but there was still her core self in evidence from time to time. Up until shortly before she died she was still able to whisper “I love you” through all the pain and discomfort.. That is Mom, that is what she did, what she was, she loved us, completely and unconditionally. I don’t think there’s anything more valuable than that. I am glad her suffering is over and she is now at rest, returned to the wellspring of our existence. Bye Mom, I love you.” - Chris
Her ashes will be interred at the Chattanooga National Cemetery at 1 p.m. on Dec. 8.
Arrangements are by Hamilton Funeral Home & Cremation Services, 4506 Hixson Pike, Hixson, Tn. 37343.
Judith Ann Prestwood Schulz