Rebecca Goodman
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Mrs. Schumacher

KENWOOD - Gloria Conner Schumacher spent 26 years raising a family before getting an MBA from Xavier University.

The former PTA mom scored the highest grade in Hamilton County and fourth in the state on the CPA test in 1976.

Then she put her education to use helping the needy.

"She was a fighter for those who lacked power," said her friend Beth Nemanof Bond Hill.

William Schumacher said his wife was a "very strong Democrat all of her life and worked in politics. She's always had strong feelings about the powerless. Her mother died when she was 13, and her father was chronically ill from World War I. She sort of took over running the family."

Mrs. Schumacher, 76, died Tuesday at Hospice of Cincinnati in Blue Ash after a four-year battle with cancer.

Although she was born in Chillicothe, Mrs. Schumacher lived much of her early years in Greater Cincinnati.

Her father, who worked for B&O Railroad, was transferred back and forth. Hers was one of the first families to move into Greenhills. The two years she spent there were happy times, her husband said.

Mrs. Schumacher graduated from Hughes High School, then earned a bachelor's degree in accounting from the University of Cincinnati in 1949.

From the time they were married in 1948, Mrs. Schumacher was "always involved with various civic activities having to do with the poor," her husband said.

She was active with the PTA. She had two sons of her own, but also raised two nieces whose parents couldn't care for them. The children went to four different schools. Mrs. Schumacher was president of three of the schools' PTAs and a member of the fourth.

Her accomplishments during those years include managing the volunteer staff of the cafeteria at St. Agnes School.

Mrs. Schumacher served on the boards of and provided financial services to Travelers Aid International of Greater Cincinnati, the St. Joseph Home, the Sisters of St. Joseph and Grailville.

She and her husband celebrated 55 years of marriage on Aug. 7.

In addition to her husband, survivors include two sons, Eric of Mason and Martin of Winton Place; the nieces she raised, Gloria Conner of Deer Park and Karen Schupp of Sharonville; and two grandchildren.

A memorial service is 10 a.m. Saturday at St. Vincent Ferrer Church, 7754 Montgomery Road in Kenwood.

Memorials: Hospice of Cincinnati, 4310 Cooper Road, Cincinnati, OH 45242; or Grailville, 932 O'Bannonville Road, Loveland, OH 45140-9705.

E-mail rgoodman@enquirer.com