Coleda grew up in the Russian Bottoms with a block full of cousins. She frequently spoke of all the fun they had. Her Grandpa lived in the main house, Coleda, her sister Carolyn aka Chub and their mother Frieda lived in the little house and her Grandma cooked in the summer kitchen. She always talked about the fun they had and she was especially close to her cousin Jeanie.
Coleda gladly gave out hugs like bank tellers give out change. Hugs have become a staple in her family. You would greet someone with a hug and you always said goodbye with a hug. If someone had a bad day, you gave them a hug. If you didn’t give out a hug, I can hear Yahyah or Papa say, “Where’s my hug”. Their hugs will be greatly missed.
Yahyah had three children; Larry, Julie and Laura. When they were young and lived on Driftwood Drive, it was common that she was outside playing kick the can with the neighborhood kids. On Halloween one year she gave out Caramel Apples. The neighborhood got wind of that and she could not keep up with the doorbell ringing; Trick or Treat…. She loved people around her and was always game for having fun.
Coleda would load up her kids and head to Kansas often to spend the weekend with “daddy”. Oftentimes we’d be on the lake because he had a boat. Coleda was a very good water skier. There were times where the weekend was spent on the lake in daddy’s boat house and her kids would sit at the back of the boat and watch the bobber.
Coleda went on to meet the love of her life; Stephen James Schwaller. They were two peas in a pod. They loved to go camping with their friends, bake cookies for Christmas and just have fun. They loved to travel and would drive to California at least once a year to celebrate Larry’s birthday. They had many close and loving friends.
Coleda loved to paint, she was gifted with the ability to draw a straight line (LOL). Their house was full of her original paintings and she always painted a “special” painting for the newest member of the family. Papa was proud of her paintings and would take a picture of the newest one she completed and he had a photo album of all her paintings.
Faith was extremely important to Coleda and Steve. They were very involved with their church and led classes for the study of the bible and they always were mentoring the youth groups. There were youth trips, youth campouts and mission trips. Coleda was the church secretary for many years and during Vacation Bible Study she was known as “The Candy Lady”. She always had more than enough candy in her office for anyone that wanted a piece. Her grandkids would sit in her office and be very proud that “This is my Yahyah”.
Yahyah loved to grab any of the grandkids that were available and go on overnight trips, just her and the kids. They’d go to Oceans of Fun, Worlds of Fun, shopping, and of course garage sales. No matter where she was driving from she always missed her exit. Over time it was figured out, this was her way of not only making the kids laugh because they missed their exit, again… but she did it also to spend more time with her babies, she never wanted the fun to stop. After her children grew up and had children of their own, most Sundays you would find them at Yahyah and Pops house. There were major water fights during these times. One time Julie was talking and out of fun Laura threw an ice tea in her face…. And the game was one. The best story involves Dave Brinkman (you will never live this down). Papa was chasing Dave and Dave was gaining distance on Pops. Pop’s last attempt was to leap at Dave, grab his shorts and down they went. Now you have Dave laying on the ground bare butt. What did Yahyah do, the only thing she could. She grabbed the hose, ran to Dave and proceeded to soak him….. This was her spirit. She was a very vibrant, strong, independent loving woman.
Momma and Pops loved to cook. They were always bringing over chicken noodle soup if you were sick. Mashed potatoes if you had a dental procedure and if she thought you were getting skinny, she bribed you with a home cooked fried chicken dinner with mashed potatoes, pan gravy from the drippings, a salad, a vegetable (usually corn, this was her favorite) and dinner rolls. Who could say no to that. So you gladly went over and gained back the pounds you just shed over the last two weeks. There was always a beer or two during your visit to sit back with Papa so he could catch up on “How are things going anything new”? Yahyah and Pops loved to cook. Yahyah has collected many recipes that were handed down from family, friends or just from trying something new here and there. During Covid a project started with gathering all her recipes and typing each and everyone of those. It took over a year, but the cookbook was finally born, being a healthy 478 pages. The book had numerous jokes, pictures of the family and each page was full of love.
Yahyah and Papa have a large family. You didn’t have to be a blood relative to be part of this clan. If you were a sincere person, not perfect, but sincere, you were part of the family. Between them they had five children, 14 grandchildren, 18 great grandchildren.
I could tell you about her work career but everything above is what she was most proud of. This was my mom, aka momma, Yahyah, BB (Big Boss), Coleda, sweetheart and many many more fond and loving names.
I could list who is still alive and who has passed, but we all know who those people are because we think of them daily and miss them daily.
Momma is with her husband now. I will repeat something she said to me recently about Papa. “We’ve done everything together for the last 55 years, why should it change now”!
With love, respect and a heavy heart we will miss you forever and ever.
Link to Service Recording: https://vimeo.com/1078737533/709853271f?share=copy