Gloria Isabelle Schuerlein, who devoted her life to her large family and to her church, died on Nov. 7 at home in Farmingville. The former East Hampton resident, who was 89, had been in declining health and was in hospice care.
The mother of 17 children, Mrs. Schuerlein volunteered as a religious education teacher for 35 years, including 10 years at Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church in East Hampton.
Her husband, the late Clement Schuerlein, was a Nassau County Police Department detective who wanted to retire here. They were married in 1950 and built a house years later on King’s Point Road in Springs, where they lived for 30 years before moving to Farmingville to live with one of their daughters, Eileen Montleon. Mr. Schuerlein died in 2013.
Mrs. Schuerlein, who was one of six children of James and Violetta Shaw, was born on Oct. 10, 1930, in South Ozone Park, Queens. She loved to paint, do ceramics, crochet, and read, her family said. “She was a very special woman,” said her daughter Ann Barton.
All of her children survive. In addition to Ms. Barton and Ms. Montleon, they are Gloria Murphy, Mary Knabbe, Clement Schuerlein, Michael Schuerlein, Joseph Schuerlein, John Schuerlein, Susan Cupas, Richard Schuerlein, Loretta Gilmour, James Schuerlein, Christine Smalkin, Elaine Hayes, Katherine DiSunno, Maureen Collins, and Margaret Lester. They all live on Long Island except for Ms. Knabbe, who lives in South Carolina, and Ms. Collins, who lives in Connecticut.
Two brothers, Kenneth Shaw of New Jersey and Jerry Shaw of Queens, also survive, and her sister-in-law and best friend, Beverly Shaw, who lives on Long Island. Thirty-nine grandchildren and 37 great-grandchildren survive as well.
A funeral was held on Nov. 12 at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church in Ronkonkoma. The family has suggested memorial donations to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, online at stjude.org.
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Correction: An earlier version of this obituary gave an incorrect date for Gloria Schuerlein's husband's death. He died in 2013.
