ORDWIN ALBERT (ROCKY) SCHOENROCK

May 30, 1922 – Sep. 2, 2015

My dad was born May 30, 1922, in Wilton Township, Minnesota, to Otto and Magdalena Schoenrock. He married my mom, the love of his life, Evelyn Brewer, on April 10, 1954.

Dad was a proud veteran of the U.S. Navy, having served as sonar man on the Destroyer Escort USS Inch during WWII. He also served as an interpreter for German sailors captured after the sinking of the U490 German submarine in the North Atlantic during June 1944. After his tour in the Navy he attended art school. There wasn’t anything that he couldn’t do.

As the years went by, I learned to appreciate the talents my dad had and what he had taught me. One of the things that he enjoyed most was his artistic abilities. In 1969 he began painting watercolor winter scenes of various churches for the Christmas Day covers of the State Journal-Register; he did this for more than 20 years. These paintings are on display at the SJ-R. He also did paintings of the log cabins in New Salem, the restored Illinois State Capitol, the covered bridges and many more. The community loved his artwork, and I am sure his beautiful artwork will live on for years to come.

But there are several things that won’t live on, and those I will miss the most, such as the summers we worked together in his yard and garden, or the stories he shared with friends and family on Christmas Day at my house every year.

Penny Jo Schoenrock-Skaggs, daughter