Submitted by: Dan Rich

Margaret Schellenbach

May 3, 1914 - March 18, 2006

South Bend Tribune 3/23/2006

Margaret (Hunsberger) Schellenbach, 91, of Mishawaka, IN, died Saturday morning, March 18, 2006, in Hospice House, South Bend, IN.

She was born on May 3, 1914, in South Bend, IN, to the late Charles and Nora (Marker) Hunsberger. She graduated from Central High School, South Bend, IN, in 1931, and from Oberlin College in Oberlin, OH, with a piano major and violin minor in 1938.

She married her Oberlin college classmate, Warren R. Walworth, on December 27, 1939, in Woodland, IN. They lived briefly in Tiffin, OH, then moved to the New York City area where they resided until retiring to Hendersonville, NC, in 1979.

Warren preceded her in death on February 16, 1982. On August 20, 1983, in Hendersonville, NC, she married Burton Schellenbach, who died on February 26, 1992. In 1992 she moved to New Orleans to be near one of her daughters. After Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in September 2005, she moved back to South Bend.

Music played a big part in Mrs. Schellenbach's life. She served as a church organist, choir director and recitalist in the Westchester County, New York, area, and the last 20 years at the Briarcliff Congregational Church. During this time she was active in the American Guild of Organists, and studied piano and organ in New York and organ and harpsichord at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria. In Hendersonville after retirement, she concentrated on chamber music and enjoyed learning and playing the wonderful repertoires of piano trios, quartets and quintets. In New Orleans and Mishawaka, she continued playing two piano, four-hand and solo piano music.

Mrs. Schellenbach is survived by her two daughters, Deborah Walworth Dengel and her husband, Carl A. Dengel of New Orleans, LA, and Cynthia A. Walworth and her husband, Christopher Doern of White Plains, NY; three stepsons, Burton H. Schellenbach and his wife, Susan Schaeffer-Schellenbach of North Hampton, Massachusetts, Cooper Schellenbach of Moab, UT, and Antony Schellenbach and his wife, Marijke of Centre, AL; and a sister, Louise Hunsberger of Bremen, IN.

A memorial service will be held at a later date. Palmer Funeral Home-River Park, South Bend, is assisting the family with arrangements.

Contributions in memory of Margaret Schellenbach may be made to Center for Hospice and Palliative Care, 111 Sunnybrook Court, South Bend, IN; or to the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, 225 Baronne Street, Suite 910, New Orleans, LA 70112.