Obituary

East Rockaway resident Myrtle W. Schatzle dies at 95

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Longtime East Rockaway resident Myrtle W. Schatzle died on Feb. 10. She was 95.
Schatzle was born in Brooklyn on Sept. 9, 1922, the daughter to Julia and Fredrick Blind. She was the fourth of seven children. When she was 6, her family moved to Shavertown, N.Y., in the Catskill Mountains, where her parents bought a dairy farm.
Schatzle loved her life on the farm, where she milked 13 cows every morning before walking 1.5 miles to a one-room schoolhouse with her siblings. When she was 16, she and her family moved back to Brooklyn when their family farm was acquired and turned into what is now the Pepacton Reservoir.
When she was 17 in 1939, Schatzle began playing professional softball for the Long Island Trevocs in the Metropolitan Women’s Softball League at Madison Square Garden. She also played at the 1939 New York World’s Fair. She was known as “the sparkplug of the infield.” Schatzle continued her softball career, later playing for the Ridgewood Harmony girls. While playing for the team, she met and later married her coach Don Schatzle.
In 1953, Don and Myrtle moved to East Rockaway to raise their family. In 1970, they bought the D&M Station Deli on Ocean Avenue. After Don’s death in 1976, Myrtle owned and operated the deli for 17 years. She was also an early active member of the PBC in East Rockaway and was also heavily involved in the American Legion Post 958 Ladies Auxiliary.

Schatzle is survived by her children, Donald Schatzle (Regina), Julie Reynolds (Kenny), Dennis Schatzle (Beth), Jacqueline Grandelli (Michael), Janice Fulgieri (Nicholas) and Joyce Samokishyn (Russel); her 17 grandchildren; and 14 great-grandchildren.
In addition to her husband Donald, she was predeceased by her daughter Diane Harris.
Services and burial were held at St. Raymond’s Church, in East Rockaway, and Pinelawn National Cemetery.
 
Your life was love and labor,
Your love for your family true,
You did your best for all of us,
We will always remember you.