Anna Schaub

Anna Neff Schaub, age 92 of Belton, passed away Tuesday, June 16, 2020 at a local care facility. Graveside services will be held at 10 am Friday, June 26, 2020 at Moffat Cemetery in Temple, Texas.

Anna was born Jan 23 1928 in Bački Monoštor, Serbia, a small town on the Danube River in what was then Yugoslavia. Anna’s young life started with hardships most people could never imagine.  Her mother died when she was a baby; a teenage Anna had to flee her home, endure, and survive WWII. After having to flee her home in 1945, spending some time in a Russian run concentration camp as communists were in the process of ethnic cleansing, she fled with her father to the British sector in Austria. There she spent 7 years in a refugee camp. While in the camp she met her husband, Josef Schaub, and they were married in 1948. Camp life was hard and when an opportunity to leave came along they took it. In 1952 the family, now with a 2-year-old son, were brought to the United States on a refugee program, and processed through Ellis Island New York. After a long train trip to Temple Tx, they arrived in Jarrell Tx were a local farm family had sponsored their resettlement.

After finding work and moving to Temple in 1954 and later adding a daughter to the family, the family lived there until 1958 when they bought a farm near The Grove. For the next 40 years Anna and Josef raised their family and worked on the family farm and held jobs in Temple to provide for their family. In 1998 advancing age convinced them to give up farm life and retire.

Adversity shaped her as much as the paternal grandmother who raised her.  She found great pleasure in the simplest things in life; home, family, friends, a cup of tea, and her puzzles. She was a very private person, but a devoted friend to all who knew her well.  Although she grew up without her own Mother, she was the best Mom; sometimes strict, but protective and loving.

Anna enjoyed gardening, family holidays, and driving through the countryside to see the Bluebonnets every spring. She was a small woman with a fierce determination to overcome whatever hardships that life threw at her. She was devoted to family and friends and kind to all. In her later years, her greatest joy in life was her five grandchildren.  She doted on them, spoiled them, and they all knew it. Her grandchildren remember Grandma in the kitchen making homemade bread, square noodle soup, or her signature Christmas jelly cookies. She was also blessed to know the three oldest of her six great grandchildren before Alzheimer’s would rob her of the ability to experience that joy. She was a living example of the adage “happiness is not having what you want, it’s wanting what you have”.

She battled with Alzheimer’s for ten years before her passing. She overcame the hardships that came her way, found joy in family and friends, and was not bitter. If she had regrets, she never expressed them.

Anna was many things; kind, devoted, modest, and loving are at the top of the list.  She was an intelligent and caring lady. She would be surprised to know the impact she had on those who crossed paths with her, and in her modest way, would brush it off.  But we know.  Anna was special, and she will be deeply missed. Now that her job here is done, she has earned her rest after 92 years of grace and dignity.

Anna is preceded in death by her parents; husband, Josef Schaub Sr.; and grandson, Blake Schaub.

Those left to honor and cherish her memory are her son, Joe Schaub and wife, Linda of Belton, TX; daughter, Anita Peters and husband, Terry of Janesville, WI; grandson, Ryan Schaub and wife, Morgan of Sugarland, TX; grandson, Alex Schaub and wife, Ashley of Spring Valley, OH; granddaughter, Kacey Werner and husband, Scott of Appleton, WI; grandson, Daniel Peters and wife, Rachel of Janesville, WI; great grandchildren, Jacob Schaub, Amelia Schaub, Carson Werner, Chantel Werner, Elise Peters, and Graham Peters; and many other extended family members and dear friends.

The family wishes to express a special thank you to the staff and nurses of Marlandwood East.

Harper-Talasek Funeral Home in Belton is entrusted with arrangements.