Sherwood Vincent Schuitema's Obituary
Sherwood Vincent Schuitema (Sherm), age 91, passed away peacefully at home on July 13, 2023. He was born on July 1, 1932, in Muskegon, son of Henry and Matilda Schuitema (Johnson).
Sherm was a life-long resident of Muskegon and was known as being a creative entrepreneur, having developed his own business before joining his brother, Max Schuitema, and Brother-in-law, Robert South, at Warner-Schuitema Moving & Storage in 1971. During his early career, Sherm developed his own wholesale bakery business where he partnered with Coles Bakery to deliver baked goods to local restaurants and businesses. He later parlayed his baked goods enterprise into the delivery of Chef Pierre frozen pies, where he turned his own garage into a walk-in freezer. Looking for further opportunities to provide support to his family he added a pick-up and delivery service for dry cleaning, well before this was a service that many dry cleaners offer today. When he joined Warner-Schuitema, he served as the company’s primary salesperson and eventually expanded his role to include selling new and used furniture out of their Peck Street Warehouse. Sherm continued his work with Warner-Schuitema into his early 80’s when he eventually retired.
On a personal level, Sherm loved sports including horse racing where he was seen frequently with a Racing Form in his hands! At one time, he owned a variety of Racehorses with his brother, Max. In his earlier days, he coached Little League baseball and is still remembered by the many players he mentored.
Sherm was incredibly involved in his children’s lives, often driving them back and forth to various sports practices and attending games. He was extremely proud of all his children and did everything he could to support each of them, as well as his grandchildren. He will be deeply missed by his family, friends, and all who had the pleasure of knowing him.
Sherm is survived by his five children, Steve (Sue) Schuitema, Kevin (Sharon) Schuitema, Russ (Lori) Schuitema, Lori (Mark) Kling and Sherri (Jim) VanderWier; and grandchildren, Scott (Gabrielle) Schuitema, Jake Schuitema, Christopher Schuitema, Reed (Brenna) Schuitema, Lindsay (Jordan) Mattfolk, Tony (Carly) Polinori, Madison Polinori, Morgan (Morse) Michael, and Danielle Medacco. He also is survived by eight great grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his nearly life-long partner, Shirley Rouse; his infant child, Shelley Schuitema; his brother Max Schuitema; and his two sisters, Eloise (Bob) South, and Virginia Radke.
At Sherm’s request, a funeral service will not be held. In honor of Sherm, Memorial Contributions may be directed to Harbor Hospice or the Muskegon Catholic Central Baseball Team.
The family would like to express their heartfelt gratitude to all those who have offered their support during the final months of his life, with special thanks to Harbor Hospice, his caretakers, and all the physicians and nursing staff at Trinity Health and Corewell Health.
The Lee Chapel of Sytsema Funeral & Cremation Services (6291 Harvey St., Norton Shores, MI 49444) is honored to be serving the Schuitema family. To share special memories with the family and sign the online guestbook, please visit http://www.sytsemafh.com.
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