Florence Schade

Florence Irene Goakey was born to her parents Everett and Elva Goakey on November 12th, 1932. She fell asleep in death on March 1st of 2024 at the age of 91 with family by her side. She is survived by her sister, Mary Schade, her sons Jeffrey (Dianne) Schade, Randy (Barbara) Schade, eight grandchildren and 12 great grandchildren. She is preceded in death by her parents, her husband Maynard, brother Louis Goakey, sister Jean Brunner, and 5 unnamed siblings who only survived briefly after their birth.

Florence was born on the family farm in rural Medford Wisconsin. It was there that the family was contacted by brother and sister Miller, two of Jehovah’s Witnesses who traveled by horse drawn wagon (sister Miller’s interview can be seen as part of the December 2016 monthly broadcast in JW library). In 1945 her father sold the farm and moved to Union Wisconsin where the house that the family lived in had tar paper siding, no plumbing and only a pot belly stove for heat. During the cold of winter, she and her sisters would sleep with a bundle of the next day’s school clothes and then rush downstairs to dress in front of the stove. Her brother Louis slept with the family’s dogs to keep warm.

The family attended the meetings of Jehovah’s Witnesses in nearby Evansville Wisconsin. Florence dedicated her life to her god Jehovah and was baptized in the Rock River as a young teenager along with her sister Jean and future brother-in-law Leon Brunner. She took up regular pioneering for 1 year and since has auxiliary pioneered (formerly vacation pioneered) more times than can be remembered including last September just before she fell ill with stage 4 kidney failure. In 1950 she met Maynard Schade who had just moved into the Evansville area. That same year the 36 members of the congregation who could travel, climbed into the back of her brother Louis’ stake bed truck and headed for an International Bible Convention in New York city. The trip took several days each way and so when they camped each night the men slept under the truck and the women slept on the truck bed. It was during that trip that romantic feelings between Maynard and Florence fully blossomed. When they returned home, Maynard, always a very logical thinker, initiated a conversation with Florence, acknowledging their mutual feelings, but suggesting that since the end of the system of things was so close, he felt that they should just wait until the New World arrived before they pursued the relationship any further. Maynard and Florence pioneered together, saw each other at congregation meetings and attended the same book study group, and thus saw each other most every day. Maynard’s flawless logic soon took a backseat to mother nature. He proposed to Florence on November 12th, her 18th birthday, with a box of chocolates. They were married on January 28th 1951 and bought their first home, a 10’ by 30’ house trailer for $400.00 which they parked behind the Goakey family home. When Maynard died in 2016 the couple had enjoyed over 65 years together. Some of the family names that Maynard and Florence had the privilege of teaching the Truth to were Hake, Hendrickson and Hunter. Florence’s favorite scripture was always Revelation 21: 3+4.

Florence enjoyed puzzles, playing board games and playing cards. But her greatest earthly joy came from gardening, canning and harvesting the fruits of the earth. Her family has a newspaper article that was written about her in the 1990s because she had been annually employed picking apples at the same orchard for 41 years. She loved growing and picking strawberries, both her own and at the Dearing residence outside Portage Wisconsin. Her sons will never forget the image of her as she went picking wild black raspberries at several secret rural locations every summer. She wore heavy pants, one of Maynard’s long sleeve flannel shirts, brown jersey gloves with the fingertips cut off and one of Maynard’s leather belts with (5) 5-quart ice cream buckets strapped to her waist.

Florence was a kind, humble and patient person with a great sense of humor. Her constant companion for the last 2 decades of her life was her granddaughter, Megan Kopp. Megan stood watch over Florence and every need she had. In Florence’s little black book that contained all of her logins and passwords, she was asked who her best friend was, and of course, she answered “Megan”. Megan’s loyalty to her grandmother was unwavering until the very end as she stayed at Florence’s bedside, without a break, 24 hours a day for the final 5 plus days of her life.

Florence dutifully worked in behalf of her family and her creator from the moment she learned the truth about him. Her devotion to God remained intact right up to her last breath. She shared in the field ministry 4 days every week right up until she fell ill last October. Even as her health declined, she insisted on being at each Christian meeting with her congregation and participating by commenting. She did so right up to 2 weeks before her passing. She freely told every care worker and hospice person that the most important thing to her was to be in person at every meeting. On her death bed and over Zoom, she momentarily gained consciousness for a few seconds during the concluding song of her congregation’s Sunday meeting and immediately joined in the singing. Her faith was sure and solid. In one of her last conscience moments she said “I feel my blood pressure dropping, well, I’ll see you in the New World, I’ll be in my garden”. She will be sorely missed by her family, her friends in several states and her congregation in New Richmond Wisconsin.

Revelation 21: 3,4
With that I heard a loud voice from the throne say: “Look! The tent of God is with mankind, and he will reside with them, and they will be his people. And God himself will be with them. And he will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore. The former things have passed away.”

Services will be held on Thursday March 14, 2024, at Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witness 1303 210th Ave New Richmond, WI 54017. Visitation 5 PM, Memorial talk 6 PM.

Virtual option through Zoom, meeting ID 825 1991 3562, passcode 288598.