Gertrude Schooley

Gertrude Gussie R. Schooley died Dec. 18 following a long illness. She was born Gertrude L. Rogers in San Francisco in Feb. 1918, the second child of Edwin and Anna Rogers. In early childhood she lived in Ajo, Arizona, and McGill, Nevada, where her father was employed as a mining engineer. She also lived and spent summers in Westcliffe, Colorado, at a ranch homesteaded by her maternal grandfather, Frank Kennicott; a place she adored. In the 1930s her family moved to Honolulu, Hawaii, where her father had an engineering business. Gussie loved going to High School at Punahou in Honolulu, surfing and trips to the mainland on ocean liners. Following graduation she went to the University of Colorado where she majored in art and fell in love with a fellow art major, Elmer Skinny Schooley. The married in September 1941 after graduating, and prior to departing for the University of Iowa where they both earned a Masters of Fine Arts degree. After WW II they moved to Silver City, NM in Jan. 1946 where Skinny taught Art of New Mexico Western. In 1947 they moved to Las Vegas, NM, where Skinny was head of the Art Department of New Mexico Highlands University, before retiring in 1978.

Both Gussie and Skinny were landscape painters known throughout the state. Gussie used the name Gussie Dujardin, the maiden name of an aunt. Just prior to retirement, Gussie applied for, and was awarded, a place in the Roswell Artist in Residence program. After the one year program, they choose to relocate to a house on Berrendo Road near the artists compound. Their careers bloomed in retirement, devoting much time to painting. Gussies work is in the collections of the Museum of New Mexico in Santa Fe, the Albuquerque Museum, the Anderson Museum of Contemporary Art in Roswell, the Roswell Museum and Art Center, and numerous private collections. Gussie was also an amateur botanist, and discovered a rare yellow species of penstemon near Las Vegas, New Mexico. A cross of the species and Penstemon barbatus is sold by High Country Gardens as Schooleys Coral Beardtongue

The family invites friends to a Celebration of Gussies life to be held at 2pm on Saturday February 3, 2007 at the Anderson Museum of Contemporary Art, at 409 E. College Blvd., Roswell, New Mexico. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that memorial contributions be made to the San Isabel Foundation, a land protection trust in Westcliffe, CO. You may phone 505 622-7678 for further information.

Gussie is survived by her husband Elmer, two sons, David and Ted, four grandchildren, Christine Schoooley- Stokes, Stephen, Anna and Sean Schooley, and great- grandchildren Ryan and Peter Stokes of Oakland, CA, and Cameron, Lacey and Mitchell Schooley of Roswell.

Arrangements have been entrusted to the care of Ballard Funeral Home and Crematory. An online registry can be accessed at www.ballardfuneralhome.com
abs classification of occupations leading handasia oceania capital par