Eugene R. Schellinger

August 15, 1941 - February 12, 2021

Eugene Ralph Schellinger passed into eternal life on February 12, 2021 at his home surrounded by loved ones, after a courageous battle with cancer. Eugene was born August 15, 1941 to Arthur and Natalia Schellinger. On August 20th, 1966 he united in marriage with Mary Lee Luedtke and enjoyed 55 years of adventures. Eugene was a successful dairy farmer in Hartford WI and upon retirement to Vilas County became a connected, passionate, and beloved entrepreneur after moving to the Northwoods in 1999 using his unique life experience and well taken care of equipment and tools, spent the next chapter of his life offering significant contributions to his new community. Eugene is survived by his wife, Mary Lee: five sons, Jeffrey (Debra) Schellinger, Glenn (Chris) Schellinger, Ted (Becky) Schellinger, Tony (Chalyse) Schellinger and Todd (Sharon) Schellinger. He had 8 grandchildren Tyler, Natalia, Jarvis, Cody, Benjamin, Maija, Tristan, and Noah Schellinger. Further survived by brother Franklyn Schellinger and In-laws Bonnie (George) Wiedmeyer, Linda (Ralph) Novotny, James (Debbie) Luedtke, Debbie (Randy) DeCaluwe, Diane (Roger) Becker, Kristine (Randy) Breber. Many nieces, nephews and special friends he’d spend hours chatting with over the years in his beloved “shop”. Whether it was something that needed fixing, lending a hand to friends or even strangers, planning his next hunt or bending your ear with one of his many stories. One such story was his final Moose hunt as told by Dave Page.. “We all have friends we can remember meeting years ago; maybe in grade school or when we started a particular job. My own best friend and hunting partner Stan and I met in late summer 1980, but that time frame is as close as I can get to the actual date. I know I met Eugene on September 6, 2019 at exactly 4:00 AM. That’s the day and time Stan and I picked up Eugene to start a three-day drive to British Columbia for a ten-day moose hunt and then three more days driving home. While many of you have known Eugene for decades, comparatively, I’ve known him only for a moment in time, but I’ll be forever grateful for that moment. After 12 – 13 hours of driving, on that first day, we checked into our hotel in Saskatchewan and these three hungry guys headed to a restaurant next to the hotel and ordered two pounds of chicken wings and a poutine – if you don’t know what a poutine is, you can ask me or Google later. Those wings didn’t last long, and it was a unanimous decision to order two more pounds. Nearing the end of that order, Stan asked if we needed another pound and Eugene immediately said, “You better make it two”. Eugene and I had a good laugh after supper because Stan had offered to buy that night - six pounds of chicken wings, a poutine and just a few cocktails. I’ve purchased cars for less than the price of that glorious meal. There are a few other stories from that trip, which may or may not be exactly appropriate in this setting that you can ask Stan or me about later if you’re curious. Over the next days of driving, we learned about swatted oats and how lucky these farmers were to have such large, flat and uninterrupted fields to plant. By the time we made our destination in British Columbia, I had gotten to know Eugene the farmer and the entrepreneur. At the end of those days driving, ten days in a very remote, and very small hunting shack and three more driving days back, I got to know Eugene’s heart and it was as big as those fields of oats and as wide as the love he had for his family and friends. Evenings in the hunting shack were filled with stories and laughter, especially after Eugene got his moose on the first full day of hunting on our mountain lake. His German phrases, unique expressions and easy laughter made the stories fun and entertaining. Sometimes the stories were less happy and at the end of them he might lean forward with a frown on his face and say, “what an episode that was”. Most often, the stories of his family and past hunting trips were great memories and ended with a big smile on his face and another, “what an episode that was”. After tagging his moose, Eugene was left alone in camp each morning and sat alone until we returned, often at dark. That’s a lot of hours alone for several days in a row. Though Stan and I felt bad about leaving him there, we had to balance out our desire to tag a moose with concern for our friend. Eugene made it easy and never once complained about being alone all day. He did read every magazine he could find in the hunting shack. He learned how to prepare garlic toast on the wood stove one day and prepared some for each of us at dinner that night. Mostly, he unselfishly wanted to hear about the adventures of our day. Story telling each night would eventually include Eugene’s comments of the special comradery we all felt in that shack and often included a tear rolling down his cheek. You probably know better than me that Eugene wore his heart on his sleeve and spoke easily and without reservation of his love for others. For each of us, our lives will write our story based on who we are and how we lived and some of us will have a short story that may be marginally interesting to a couple of people. A very few others lived a life, when written, can only be an epic novel. Eugene’s life is such a story, an epic novel; it’s a story that doesn’t end with his passing. His last chapters have yet to be written by all of us, his family, and friends he cherished so completely. It is our honor and responsibility to write his last chapters through the telling and retelling of his story in the years to come. We all have our own idea of what happens after our passing. I personally believe there is something for us when our time on earth comes to an end and we pass from our physical presence among family and friends. At the end of the day, today, as we filter off to wherever we need to be, I picture Eugene watching over Mary, giving her peace to navigate the emotion today brings. I also see Eugene watching all of us from a chair in that hunting shack, sitting back with a big smile on his face saying, “what an episode that was”. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to https://woundedwarriorproject.org A Celebration of life is planned for May 22, 2021 in Eugene's Shop.