Anne C. (Lieske) Shortridge Wilkerson Schwartz

Anne Schwartz, 91, passed away peacefully and journeyed home to God on June 19, 2022.  Anne was an amazing woman who lived a wonderful, exciting, friend-filled, adventurous, happy, and loving life.  She leaves behind her two brothers, her three children, six grandchildren, and seven great grandchildren to remember her legacy.

This grand adventure began in Chicago on November 4, 1930.  Anne was the oldest child of John J. Lieske, Jr. and Catherine Wagner Lieske.  Being the daughter of a sales executive for Graybar Electric who made numerous management transfers, Anne was no stranger to new cities and new schools and new friends.  Anne and the Lieske family lived in Chicago, St. Louis, Park Ridge, Chevy Chase, Grand Rapids, Hammond (where she graduated from Hammond High) and Kenilworth.  She thrived everywhere she went.

Anne attended Purdue University in West Lafayette, IN where she joined Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority.  It was at Purdue she fell in love with Norman H. Shortridge, Jr., and left Purdue early to marry and raise a family.  Anne and Norm moved to Norm’s hometown of Indianapolis, and Anne remained in the Indianapolis area the rest of her life.  Although she left college early, Anne promised her father that she would eventually get her diploma, and so she did when she graduated from Butler University.

Once settled in Indianapolis, four children followed in the next eight years – Steve, Tom, Liz, and Mike – and Anne’s life was consumed with all the joys and obligations of raising a very busy family, everything from baptisms to school functions to carpools to graduations to summer vacations.  Anne was there every step of the way and was a rock that her children could always count on.  But the first major hardship came to Anne when she and Norm split up and then with Norm’s early death at 49 years old in 1976.

A second marriage came to be with Charles D. (Charlie) Wilkerson.  Charlie had five children of his own – Chip, Dan, Warren, Marlena, and Darlena – so it was a busy couple of years while everyone was going to high school, college, and starting new lives.  It was also another wonderful chapter in Anne’s life where she and Charlie traveled, played golf at the Country Club of Indianapolis, met countless new friends and had so many new activities together.  One of their adventures was building a new home on Morse Lake in Cicero, IN, where boating was their new hobby and more friends entered Anne’s ever-growing circle.  In addition, grandchildren were coming on to the scene and Anne was the quintessential loving grandmother.  Unfortunately, this part of Anne’s life also came to a close when Charlie passed away while they were vacationing in Florida in 1987.  Anne eventually moved from the house on Morse and bought a brand new, yet-to-be-built house in Carmel, IN, in the Waterford subdivision.

While grief was difficult during her first years at Waterford, Anne’s indominable spirit came to life again and she met and married Richard (Dick) Schwartz in 1991.  Dick was a Purdue engineering grad, so Purdue basketball and football games dominated a large part of their social calendar, with trips to Lafayette and motor home drives to away games shared with yet another group of new friends.  Anne and Dick had 13 very good years together, but in 2004 a heart attack claimed Dick’s life while being treated at the Cleveland Clinic.

Anne was always in constant motion with both a career and her home and social lives.  She seemed to thrive on people and activities and challenges.  Anne used her undergraduate teaching degree, as well as her Masters degree from Butler, to embark on a teaching career.  First it was five years at Westlane Junior High, followed by 26 years at Northview Junior High (known to all as “Mrs. Shortridge”, then “Mrs. Wilkerson”).  She taught World History and Social Studies, exposing Anne to many of the places she later traveled to both here and in Europe.  Many, many students remarked that Mrs. Shortridge/Mrs. Wilkerson was great teacher who influenced their lives.  Anne retired in 1991.

Activities are almost too numerous to mention.  In addition to teaching and then afterward in retirement, Anne had time for the Kappa Kappa Gamma Alumni Association, Blue Flower Garden Club, Alpha Tau Latriean, Carmel Library Guild, St. Elizabeth Seton Women’s Club, Seton Chorus, President-Waterford Homeowners Association, and Harbor Trees Golf Club.  Playing bridge and cards, traveling, attending the symphony, and hosting parties were constant activities, as well as twenty-five years of family vacations at Palisades Park in South Haven, MI.  Also, it needs mentioning that Anne’s faith was so important to her, and she embraced every single church she became part of during her many moves, including St. Joan of Arc and Christ the King and St. Luke in Indianapolis, Sacred Heart in Cicero, and Our Lady of Mt. Carmel and St. Elizabeth Seton in Carmel.

Those who passed before Anne include her parents John and Catherine Lieske, her husbands Norm, Charlie, and Dick, and her oldest son Steve.  Anne is survived by her brothers Jack Lieske (Loretta) and Jim Lieske (Connie), her son Tom Shortridge (Julie), Liz Shortridge, Mike Shortridge (Mary); grandchildren Annie Walljasper (Chris), Charlie Shortridge (Courtney), Kate Halbach (Mike), Stephen Shortridge II (Missouri), Summer Shortridge Small (Artez), and John Taseff;  daughter-in-law Lynn Shortridge;  great-grandchildren Lucy, Fritz, Bernadette, Virginia, Max, Marie, and Leo; Chip Wilkerson (Ann), and Marlena Wilkerson Harrick (Steve); Alan Schwartz, Tom Schwartz, and Susan Schwartz.

Anne’s friends at Waterford, The Barrington, St. Elizabeth Seton, and all over the country, meant more to her than they could imagine.  They provided her with love, friendship, companionship, and support.  As did Anne’s beloved dog, Andy.

Anne always said she was having too much fun to leave this life, and she gave that philosophy a good go until a failing heart finally claimed her.  We love you Mom, and thank you for your life!  Rest in peace.

Friends and family are invited to gather for a visitation on Thursday, June 23, 2022, from 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm, with a Sharing of Memories beginning at 4:00 pm,  at Flanner Buchanan – Carmel, 325 East Carmel Drive, Carmel, IN 46032. A Funeral Mass will be held for Anne, Friday, June 24, 2022 at 10:30 am, at St. Elizabeth Seton Catholic Church, 10655 Haverstick Road, Carmel, IN 46033.