Walter Milton Schall was educated New York State College of Forestry, Syracuse University, New York/University of California, Berkley, California.
4 He was a Kroehler Manufacturing Plant.
4 Walter Schall, 87
Ex-plant manager of furniture firm
December 28, 2002|By Patricia Trebe. Special to the Tribune.
Walter Milton Schall loved history, which explained his charter membership in the Naperville Heritage Society and the stacks of Kroehler Manufacturing Co. memorabilia he saved when the furniture company closed its Naperville facility in 1979.
"Anything that was discarded he collected, and he saved an unbelievable amount of memorabilia," Peggy Frank, executive director of Naper Settlement, said of the company's former plant manager.
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Mr. Schall and his wife, Connie, who died in 1996, stored material from what was once the largest manufacturer of upholstered furniture in the world in their garage for years. Naper Settlement eventually found storage space to take it.
"Today, people from all over the country come and use the resources that Walt preserved," Frank said.
Mr. Schall, 87. who was plant manager for more than 20 years, died of natural causes in his Naperville home Monday, Dec. 23.
A native of New York, Mr. Schall received his bachelor's degree in forestry from New York State College of Forestry at Syracuse University and his master's degree in forestry from the University of California at Berkeley.
The Kroehler Manufacturing Co. plant in Inglewood, Calif., hired him for research and development of wooden aircraft fuselages for the U.S. Army.
"He used his knowledge to bend the wood without it splintering, and they used that in the planes," said his daughter Carol Kaufman.
He was transferred to the company's Dallas plant and then to Kankakee, where he met his wife. In 1954, he was transferred to Naperville and promoted to superintendent of upholstering. Two years later he became plant manager.
A charter member of the Naperville Heritage Society since 1969, Mr. Schall served from 1979 to 1982 on the board of the organization that oversees Naper Settlement. He was also chairman of the chapel preservation project and oversaw the buildings and grounds before the settlement had a paid staff. "He would be out here in the middle of the night checking the buildings after storms and floods," Frank said.
Mr. Schall was a former president of the Naperville Rotary Club and a member since 1956.
Fellow Rotarian, friend and former Naperville Mayor Chet Rybicki said: "You were not bored being with Walt. Walt had a lot of wit and he was willing to share it. He really was one of God's gifts to mankind."
Mr. Schall also was a member of the Naperville Plan Commission, the DuPage Water Commission and the Naperville Bicentennial Commission. He was a board member of the Naperville Savings and Loan Association and a member of the Community United Methodist Church.
Other survivors include three daughters, Nancy Kneer, Sue Pinkman and Janet Cecil, and 11 grandchildren. Visitation will be from 3 to 8 p.m. Sunday in Beidelmann-Kunsch Funeral Home, 516 S. Washington St., Naperville. Services will be held at 10:30 a.m. Monday in the funeral home.
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