Henry Schuler passed away on March 24, 2026 in Limon, Colorado. He was 99 years old.

Henry Alfred Schuler was born on November 18, 1926, at the family farm near Ness City, Kansas. He was the third of 12 children born to Richard and Stella (Everhart) Schuler. He had 5 brothers and 5 sisters, and one brother who died shortly after birth. Henry grew up on the farm milking cows, caring for beef cattle, pigs, and chickens and farming crops, mainly wheat. He loved driving the tractor and working with the land, a love that never left him and led him to farm related work for the rest of his life. He attended grammar school at the North Star School in the country before going to High School in Ness City. His parents wanted him to skip his senior year and stay home to help with the farm, but a high school principal visited the family and convinced them to let him graduate in 1945. Henry was a good student and a natural civil engineer, able later in life to gauge slopes of terraces and roads with the naked eye.

During high school he dated a neighbor girl, Mildred Sutton. In January of 1947 Henry and Mildred were married at the First Baptist Church in Ness City, Kansas. They were great partners in life in the years ahead with Mildred helping Henry with the farm and both contributing to the community by lending a helping hand to anyone who needed it. They celebrated their 77th anniversary before Mildred’s passing.

Henry had several jobs in Ness County working at the local meat locker, and as a farm and ranch hand for several years. During that time their two daughters were born, Linda in 1953 and Peggy in 1954. In 1957, Henry and Mildred purchased a ranch of their own in Eastern Colorado where the family lived for 23 years. He soon learned that the soil was not suitable for farming and he was introduced to the Federal Soil Bank, the predecessor to today’s CRP, which allowed him to convert farm land into grass land. Henry raised beef cows and calves for many years on the ranch, and then later steers. During time at the ranch, he supplemented his income by working for Don Esarey doing soil conservation terracing and grass seeding, and working for O.K. Hamacher Well Works drilling water wells.

In the late 1970s, Henry purchased his own terracing equipment and started his terracing business. He gradually expanded the services to include dam and pond building, road construction, grass seeding and building site preparation. He and Mildred moved to Simla, Colorado in 1980 where they were active in the First Baptist Church and where Henry worked closely with the Double El Soil Conservation District.

The work ethic instilled in Henry at an early age carried through his whole life. He was hard worker, with rough hands, and tanned skin, and took each job seriously. He set high standards for the finished project for every field he seeded, each road he built and each load of gravel he spread. He’d get up early and come home late to ensure that jobs were done in a timely manner for his customers. Every day he found tremendous joy in seeing his work completed. Unfortunately, it was his eyesight that slowed him down in later years when he acquired macular degeneration. After doing conservation work for hundreds of farmers for almost 40 years, Henry retired at the age of 91 in 2018 due to health concerns. We can say that he literally left his mark on the land of Eastern Colorado and beyond.

Long before conservation was a popular term, Henry believed it was important to be a good steward of the land God had made. He promoted this by serving in leadership positions on the local Horse-Rush Creek Soil Conservation District Board, later named the Double El Soil Conservation District, the Eastern Colorado Resource Conservation Development Board, and the Colorado Association of Soil Conservation Districts. Henry was well known locally and statewide for his work on these boards and he was presented several service awards. In every community where he lived, Henry gave of his time and energy. He was a member of the Miami School Board for several years and President of the PTO in the early 1960s. He valued education and was very proud of Linda and Peggy when they got their college degrees.

At a young age, Henry asked Jesus Christ to be Lord of his life. He lived his life with Godly principles of integrity, kindness and extreme generosity. Henry and Mildred joined the First Baptist Church in Simla in the early 1960s where he served in the church as deacon, trustee and moderator for many years. Their Christian values permeated the volunteer work they did for many around them expecting nothing in return. Henry enjoyed visiting with his friends and strangers alike at the coffee shop, at church, school functions and community events.

Henry was preceded in death by his parents, his wife, Mildred, his brothers Wilbur, Richard Dewey, David, and John and by his sisters, Ardith and Carolyn. He is survived by his daughters Linda (Peter) Schoon and Peggy (Randy) Malcom, 6 grandchildren: Leslie Wade, Janice (Mark) Bee, and Laura (Lincoln) Korell, Michael (Danielle) Schoon, Rebecca (Adam) Bradley, and Stephen (Jennifer) Schoon and, 14 great grandchildren: Aly and Emma Wade, John, Kayla, Cash, and Sadie Bee, Miles Korell, Robert, Anna, and Kate Schoon, and Hosanna, Ryker, Maverick, and Tilly Bradley. Henry is also survived by his sisters Arlene Grinnell, Donna Michel, and Margaret (George) Keyser, and his brother Harold (Coyanna) Schuler, brothers-in-law Robert Sutton and Reese Daugherty, and many nieces and nephews.

Funeral services will be held April 1, 2026 at Hi Plains Baptist Church, 1001 H Avenue, Limon, Colorado. Viewing will be at 9:00 a.m-10:00 a.m. Memorial Service will be at 10:30 a.m. Rev. James R. Schoon will officiate. Interment will be at Pershing Cemetery in Limon, Colorado. Brown Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Gift of Life Foundation, P.O. Box 245, Hugo, CO, 80821 or the Double El Conservation District Scholarship Fund, P.O. Box 215, Simla, CO, 80835.