Calvin Schoonmaker

“Yesterday’s gone.  Tomorrow’s not here.  All we have is today.”

Pops passed away on Easter Sunday, April 21, 2019 at the age of 91½.  Calvin grew up in Baton Rouge as part of this Nation’s Greatest Generation.  He attended Baton Rouge High School, where he was the star tailback (to the bench) of the football team.  He left high school and enlisted in the US Navy.  Calvin spent 18 months on the USS Point Cruz as part of a WWII clean-up crew before finishing up his Navy tour in Seattle, Washington.  Pops married Mary Bennett on her lunch break from nursing school on December 16, 1948. She was his best friend, traveling companion, charitable partner and bargain store co-shopper.  Calvin was a skilled painter who was trained by his father.  Painting turned into construction, and Calvin became a general contractor and could fix just about anything for just about anybody.  Pops was a proud North River Road resident of West Baton Rouge parish for 53 years.  Calvin called bingo for Devall School, managed an antique business at the Orange Grove store, and played Santa Clause for all the neighborhood kids.  Calvin downsized to Central in 2005 where he became one of the most celebrated residents of Oak Cluster Drive and a frequent shopper of Sullivan’s Ace Hardware and Oak Point Supermarket.  Calvin and Mary lost everything, except one another, in the great flood of 2016.  They lived out the rest of their short time together in Oscar, Louisiana. Pops made many new friends in Pleasant View Subdivision where he took the security of the neighborhood seriously and made frequent surveillance laps on his golf cart.  His hobbies during his life included hunting, fishing in Grand Isle, collecting Budweiser memorabilia, artistic painting, photo shopping, cooking in his outdoor kitchen and adding nutmeg to most any recipe.

Pops is survived by a tremendous amount of friends and family.  Those that will miss him most include Calvin and Janet Schoonmaker, Cindy Ruppenicker, Jenny and Nic Kirkland, Stacy Schoonmaker, Shane Schoonmaker, Anna and Sean Hart, Chad Ruppenicker, Leanna and Eric Robbins, Pumpkin and all of his Gator Queen family.  Stories of Pops and his antics will be remembered and told to his 5 great grandchildren Sam, Andi, John Robert, Wyatt and the expected baby boy Hart.  All of which he loved dearly and was extremely proud to be their Pops. He’d want them all to know, “It’s out there kid, you just gotta go get it.”

Visitation will be held Wednesday April 24, 2019 at Resthaven Gardens of Memory beginning at 10:00am with funeral services at 2:00pm.

Pall bearers include Greg Melancon, Nic Kirkland, Dave Ruppenicker, Shane Schoonmaker, Chad Ruppenicker, Mike Blanchard, Robert Daniel and Eric Robbins.  Honorary pallbearers include Louis Trabona, Clyde Arnold and Jerry Hix.  In lieu of flowers, the family would like donations made in Pops memory to St. Jude Children’s Hospital or the Louisiana State Troopers Association.

Calvin is now reunited with his Lord and Savior, his wife Mary, and his son-in-law Moody Hix.

Romans 14:8 - If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.