Rachel Bartolowits
My name is Rachel and my husband Sean and I bought our first house right next door to Miss Annearle Schilling in 2018. I know we were just her neighbors but she was a good one. We loved being her neighbor. She was always out taking care of her yard and she walked by our house all the time on the way to dinner at her son-in-law’s house, and she would stop and say hello. She didn’t seem to hear us very well all the time, but she still liked to chat sometimes and what she liked to talk about was her family. She loved her family so much. She told us about her late husband Al and how she missed him and how they loved Tex-Mex. She told us about her kids and grandkids. She was always excited to see some grandkids. She even told us about Howey history, about showing off the brand new houses in Howey when she was in school. She never seemed like she liked asking for help, so I knew we were friends once she started asking us. She would just come pull my husband out of the garage or wave him over and he’d go help with whatever she needed. And as the years went by, I got pregnant and we brought home our daughter last year, and in those first few days after we brought her home from the hospital, I caught Miss Ann dragging our garbage can back up to our house from the curb. I will never forget that sight.. because the can is almost bigger than her and I was just so touched by that. She didn't see me come out and she didn’t say a word, she just brought it up to the house and went right back through the hedge. Just so happens that my daughter’s name is Anne. Our daughter is a year and a half now and she’s walking and she loved to talk to her neighbor Miss Ann and see her little dog Cuddles. As soon as she could walk she would toddle right into Miss Ann’s yard to say hello. Or Miss Ann would come pop through the hedge and we’d hang out in our front yard. Miss Ann would let our baby hand her little sticks and leaves and things off the ground and she would work with her on counting them. The last time we saw her my baby randomly gave Miss Ann a hug and it was the sweetest thing, and then Miss Ann was going shopping with a friend and when she came back she dropped off a board book for our daughter, about colors. I just know the blessing she was to have as a neighbor, and the loss we feel. We will miss her, truly. So I can’t imagine the loss that is felt by her family and friends. I just wanted to say how she loved y’all and talked about you all every chance she got.
