Joseph Francis Schuman

West Point, 1951

Be Thou At Peace

Posted by Ann Schuman Gegan on August 11, 2013:

March 25, 1929 - July 17, 2013 Colonel Joseph Francis Schuman, U.S. Army retired, passed away at age 84 on July 17, 2013, at Silver Oak Manor, Livermore, California, after a long illness. Joe was born at home on March 25, 1929, on the South Side of Chicago, where he spent his youth and graduated from Hirsch High School in 1947. Desiring a military career since a young age, Joe attended the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, graduating as a member of the Class of 1951, and beginning his service as an artillery officer. After graduating West Point, Joe volunteered for combat service in Korea, where he earned the Bronze Star with "V" for valor. His extensive military career included assignments at the Citadel, as a research engineer at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and with the 4th Armor Division, Artillery, in West Germany. Further assignments included nuclear warhead delivery systems production at the Institute of Nuclear Studies, then located at Fort Bliss, Texas, and Chief of Staff at Cam Ranh Bay, South Vietnam, earning a second Bronze Star. Joe's last military assignment involved fielding an anti-ballistic system at SAFSCOM, Redstone Arsenal, in Huntsville, Alabama. During his military career, Joe was awarded the Legion of Merit three times. In 1960, Joe graduated from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, with Masters Degrees of Science in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering and in Instrumentation Engineering. He also earned a Masters Degree in Administrative Science from the University of Alabama, Huntsville, in 1973. After his military retirement in 1973, Joe worked as an Associate Division Leader of Manufacturing and Precision Engineering at the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory until his retirement in 1984. Always devoted to his family, Joe is survived by his wife Clare (Schirrmacher) Schuman, who he married on September 19, 1953, in Chicago at Saint Francis de Paula Catholic Church shortly after his return from Korea. Also surviving Joe are his two children, John Schuman of Livermore and Ann (Robert) Gegan of Davis, grandsons Joseph, Ross, and Michael Gegan, and his siblings Agnes Schwarz of Downers Grove, Illinois, and Donna Gamble of Oceanside, California, as well as many nephews and nieces. Joe was preceded in death by his parents, Frank and Cecilia (Bruenderman) Schuman, and three brothers, Charles, Paul, and George Schuman. Visitation was held at Callaghan Mortuary in Livermore on July 24. Interment followed at 11 am on July 25th at the Davis Cemetery in Davis, California.

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