Michael E. Schumer, born October 16th, 1942, passed away at Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara on October 2nd, 2021 at the age of 78. He was born in Bird Island, MN and served in the United States Army for three years in Germany which led him to Denmark where he met his wife Karen of 57 years. Their son James was born in Vejle, Denmark and the family relocated to the United States in 1965 where they had two more children, Jason and Nicole. In 1983, they moved to Buellton where Michael worked in construction first with Kelly Bakke then with his son Jim until Jim’s passing in 2009. Since then he had been self-employed. His superior craftsmanship is all over the Santa Ynez Valley as are all of his clients and friends. He was a perfectionist and he loved his work and his shop so much. Michael loved to study the Danish newspaper every single morning along with his Danish dictionary.
Michael and Karen were married over 57 years and have 6 grandchildren: Sarah Schumer of Buellton, Megan and her husband Sean Hogan in Los Alamos, Joseph and his wife Alaiya Schumer in Washington, Kaitlin her husband Nobi Akahoshi in Fukuoka, Japan, Maddison Schumer of Long Beach, and Alec Hanna in Bahrain. They had two great-grandchildren, Koto and Maro, in Japan as well as their son-in-law Steve Hanna in Nevada, and their daughter in law Sonya Schumer of Lompoc. Words cannot express how much he loved all of us, his family, and how we loved and adored him. Affectionately nicknamed “Affie” by Sarah, he proudly drove around in his old black truck with this displayed on his license plate.
Our hearts are broken – he will live on in our hearts forever. The memories are endless and they will be a blessing as we navigate through this dark time. A Celebration of Life will be at a later date as several family members who live in other parts of the world can’t be here at this time.
We are walking in his light.
