Phyllis Louise Schinzel was born on October 16, 1928, on the family farm three miles southwest of Grafton, Nebraska, in the same room where her father had been born. She was the first child of Ralph Milton Schinzel and Gladys Vivian (Hubbard) Schinzel. In very short order, she was joined by three brothers: Ralph Waldo, Charles Albert, and Dean Andrew. Life was hard during the Depression, but they had a good life centered around family, the Congregational Church in Grafton, friends, music, reading, and the family garden. Phyllis began her schooling at a country grade school and completed elementary school and part of high school in Grafton. In 1946, she graduated from Sutton High School and decided to enroll in the University of Nebraska in Lincoln because someone gave her a $50 scholarship.
While at the University, Phyllis lived at Love Memorial Hall on East Campus. During an exchange event with FarmHouse Fraternity, she first laid eyes on Phil Skinner. They began dating, and at Christmas time, she first took him to the farm to meet her parents and her brothers. In the spring of 1948, she finished a two-year degree in Applied Science from the University and took a job teaching in a one-room country school south of Sutton, where she could live at home with her family. She was at the school with her students when the blizzard of 1949 struck. The students’ parents came to the school for their children, but the roads were not passable for Phyllis to return home. Fortunately, a farmer just down the road came to the school by tractor, and Phyllis weathered the storm with his family, with no means to let her parents know that she was alive, warm, and safe.
Phyllis graduated from the University on June 6, 1949, and married Philip Edward Skinner on June 7, 1949, at the Congregational Church in Grafton. At the time, Phil was working as a ranch hand in northwest Nebraska, and they moved into a one-room ranch shack. Three children were born to the union, all at the hospital in Chadron: Michael Harold on August 26, 1950, Thomas Lew on April 1, 1952, and Jennifer Louise on June 9, 1954. The growing family moved to Fort Robinson and lived in the officers’ quarters on the north side of the parade grounds, where Phil worked with the Beef Animal Experiment Station. When Phil decided in 1956 to continue his education, the family moved to Stillwater, Oklahoma, where he earned a master’s degree in Animal Science and entered a doctoral program sponsored jointly by Oklahoma State and the University of Texas. In October of 1959, Phil was diagnosed with bone cancer, and his left leg was amputated. In February of 1960, the family moved to Fort Reno, Oklahoma, so Phil could continue his research on the relationship between sunlight and cancer, a previously unexplored field. Phyllis was with Phil at the M.D. Anderson Medical Center in Houston when he died on June 25, 1960.
With three children in elementary school and much support from family and friends, Phyllis decided to continue her education in the field of Home Extension work at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. While the children lived with her parents and her youngest brother, Dean, on the family farm, one of her classmates, Glen Krohn, introduced her to his older brother Bob, and they began to date. On June 9, 1962, she graduated from the University with a bachelor’s degree and took a job with the University Extension Service in Madison County, moving the family to Norfolk. Bob also moved to Norfolk, and on September 23, 1962, Phyllis married Robert Lee Krohn at the Wesley Foundation chapel at the University in Lincoln. On September 1, 1963, Phyllis resigned from the Extension Service for personal reasons. Both Bob and Phyllis worked at several jobs in Norfolk until Bob’s father Herb Krohn died of a heart attack on October 30, 1965. In early December, the family moved to the Krohn family farm southeast of Winslow. In addition to helping with farmwork, Phyllis held a variety of other jobs and brought two more children into the world: James Lee on January 30, 1966, and Rebecca Joy on July 12, 1970. By that time, Mike was in the Air Force, and Tom had graduated from high school, so Phyllis’ children never lived all under the same roof. One of the highlights of her life was a trip to Europe with Bob in 1972 to visit Mike while he was stationed in Germany; they even got to sleep at the base of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
In 1979, Bob’s mother sold the family farm, and Phyllis and Bob with Jim and Becky moved to Hooper. On February 21, 1987, Bob died of lung cancer while Phyllis was driving him to the hospital in Fremont for another treatment. The person riding along to help out that morning was Arlan Panning, who had been the best man at their wedding.
After Becky graduated from high school in 1988, Phyllis went on to another career, this time in the church. She moved to Lincoln to live with Jenny and took classes through St. Paul School of Theology in Kansas City to become a diaconal minister. With these new credentials, she worked in hospice care through Tabitha Health Care and with the chaplaincy program at Bryan Memorial Hospital, both in Lincoln. During this time, she was involved with Cancer Survivor groups and shared many activities with Ed Samuelson, who was a long-time family friend. On June 6, 1991, Phyllis married Ed at Faith United Methodist Church in Lincoln with son Lew presiding along with the church pastor and with all five grandsons escorting her down the aisle. The next day, June 7, 1991, Phyllis was consecrated as a diaconal minister in the United Methodist Church. Phyllis moved to Ed’s home in Winslow, and they enjoyed their life together but only for a brief time. On February 3, 1993, Ed died in his sleep.
Phyllis worked for a time in chaplaincy and social services at Arbor Manor in Fremont and for a couple of months at Heifer Ranch in Arkansas. In June of 1995, she was appointed as Local Pastor for the United Methodist Churches in Bassett, Newport, and Rose, small towns in north central Nebraska. However, health problems forced her to go on disability in April of 1996 and move to Lincoln for rehabilitation. In June of 1998, she was strong enough to be appointed to serve as pastor of Faith United Methodist Church in Lincoln, though she again suffered health problems and returned to disability status.
In 2000, Phyllis moved to Mahoney Manor in Lincoln, near her daughter Jenny and right across the street from Havelock United Methodist Church, where she spent much of her time. She truly enjoyed being part of the United Methodist Women’s group and helping out with Food Net and providing food for those in need. In 2009, she moved to Arbor Manor in Fremont as a resident and hoped it would be her last move. She passed from this life peacefully this past Wednesday, September 11, 2013, shortly before seven in the evening. Everywhere she went she left a trail of friends and a witness of deep faith. On her passing, she also left behind a notebook listing many pages of books she had read and including several lists of more books she wanted to read.
Phyllis was preceded in death by her parents, Ralph and Gladys Schinzel; her three husbands, Phil Skinner, Bob Krohn, and Ed Samuelson; her two brothers, Dean and Charlie; and various brothers- and sisters-in-law. She is survived by all of her children and their spouses: Mike and Carolyn Skinner of Houston, Texas; Lew and Nan Kaye-Skinner of Lincoln, Nebraska; Jenny and Dave Ahlemeyer of Marshalltown, Iowa; Jim and Nancy Krohn of Garden City, Kansas; Becky and Nathan Winey of Fremont, Nebraska; and Karl and Kim Samuelson of Lincoln, Nebraska. She was blessed with seven grandchildren: Adam Ahlemeyer of Lincoln, Nebraska; Paul Ahlemeyer of St. Charles, Missouri; Andrew Kaye-Skinner and wife Nicole of LaVista, Nebraska; Matt Skinner and wife Amy of Houston, Texas; Ben Kaye-Skinner and wife Liz of Geneva, Nebraska; and Charlotte and Bobby Winey of Fremont, Nebraska and with one great-granddaughter, Rosemary Kaye-Skinner of Geneva, Nebraska. She was also blessed with myriad relatives and with friends and colleagues everywhere she went.