Hedwig “Hedi” Hanus Schuler

Hedwig “Hedi” Hanus Schuler died at Samaritan Regional Medical Center in Corvallis, Ore., on September 15, 2022

SCHULER—Hedwig “Hedi” Hanus Schuler died at Samaritan Regional Medical Center in Corvallis, Ore., on September 15, 2022, with her husband Sam Bennett by her side.

Hedi was born to Stanislaus and Sofia Glazer Hanus on Feb. 10, 1929, in Nadvorna, Poland. In 1939, regions of eastern Poland were occupied by the USSR and renamed Ukraine. Also In 1939, her father, a hotelier who was also an officer in the Austro-Hungarian Royal Guards, was arrested by the Russian army and sent to Siberia. Hedi, her brother, and mother fled to Vienna, leaving behind the family business, their possessions, friends and church.

Hedi attended business college in Vienna and worked as a translator for various international companies. She was fluent in Polish, German, Russian and Hungarian.

In 1947, Hedi married Pfc Wallace Schuler in Vienna, and the couple were relocated to Chicago, Ill., and subsequently to Colorado Springs, Colo.; Hedi bore two daughters, Jeanette and Nancy. In 1975, Hedi divorced and moved to La Jolla, Calif., where she worked in the gourmet restaurant business.

In 1979, Hedi met Sam Bennett, and the two became life partners in 1980. In 1988, Hedi moved to Oregon to be with her daughter Jeanette, and in 1989 Sam followed, having graduated from UCSD and been accepted to the doctoral program in Biochemistry & Biophysics at Oregon State University.

Hedi and Sam loved Oregon, where they built a life together. Her daughters predeceased Hedi, but she is survived by two grandsons: Dave Felder, son of Jeanette Schuler, and Gregg Kirby, son of Nancy Schuler.

Her remains are interred at Pacific Sunset Memorial Park in Florence, Ore.