Aileen Melba Schumacher's Obituary
Aileen Melba Schumacher, PE Retired
Aileen Schumacher passed away peacefully in her sleep at her home in Jonesville, Florida on May 4, 2026 of acute pneumonia. She was 73 years old.
Aileen was a proud Texan, born in El Paso on October 11, 1952 to Wilfred and Melba Schumacher, both deceased. Aileen was a cradle Episcopalian attending St. Albans Episcopal Church in El Paso and Holy Trinity Episcopal church in Gainesville, Florida. She graduated top 5 in her class from Austin High School in El Paso where she was the editor of the award-winning student newspaper that year. She was a National Honor Society member and a National Merit Scholar Finalist. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Biology and Master of Science in Civil Engineering degrees from New Mexico State University. As a biology undergraduate Aileen worked in the International Biological Program where she researched and authored 3 peer reviewed/published scientific papers on desert ants. She wrote the grant application that was awarded to fund her master’s thesis research. Aileen was inducted into the Sigma Xi and Chi Epsilon honor societies at New Mexico State University and was a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers. Aileen earned her professional engineering license in Florida where she and her husband formed Blum, Schumacher & Associates, Inc., a Gainesville, Florida civil engineering consulting firm where she was the President and CEO. She also founded, and was the president/CEO of ExperTech Supplies, Inc. Aileen was appointed to, and served on, the Gainesville Energy Advisory Board.
Aileen was a loving mom to her children, Nicky and Kevin and strongly embraced all that entailed. She was an active advocate and lovingly set high standards of character for their growth into adults. She was a classroom volunteer and served on the PTA. She was especially interested in the Math Superstars program. She strove to attend all her kid’s activities and to expose them to the wide variety of life and culture including literature, theater, music, dance, travel, sports, religion and much more. Later, in spite of illness, she was overjoyed to visit with her grandchildren.
Aileen was a voracious life-long reader and, as if running two businesses while raising two children and managing a family weren’t enough, she also authored several books. Her first was “A Guide to Hazardous Materials Management” published in 1988. She then went on to write a series of four murder mystery novels and related short stories published from 1997 through 2001. Her second novel, “Framework for Murder” was one of 5 nominees for the 1999 Best Novel Anthony Award. Her last book of the series, “Rosewoods Ashes” won the Damn Good Book award. Aileen was a proud member of Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime. Her fiction work took her and family members to many adventures including research trips, conferences and author events throughout the US and Spain.
Aileen delighted in acquaintances who were fascinated by her sharp wit and humor. She maintained several lasting friendships including childhood and school friends, boyfriends who became fast family friends, neighbors, work colleagues, fellow authors and fans of her books among others. Aileen is survived by her loving husband Richard Blum, her beloved dog, Maple, her daughter Nicky Parker (Michael) their two sons, Andrew and Colin, of Jacksonville, Florida; and her son MSgt Kevin Blum-Schumacher (Melinda) and their son, Max, of McGuire Air Force Base, New Jersey. She is also survived by her brother William Schumacher, (Kay) of Las Cruces, New Mexico and their two daughters, and their husbands and five grandchildren.
Aileen was that young girl setting off on her bicycle to explore McKelligon Canyon with her family dog trotting beside her. She was that reluctant organizer of the rebel underground student newspaper. She earned an A in that electrical engineering Boolean Algebra class using a slide rule instead of a calculator and she and the professor were the only ones to finish Gravity’s Rainbow in that graduate English class she took for fun. Aileen was that sexy young woman on the dance floor swaying her hips to Mick Jagger in the dark smoke-filled bar. She was that clumsy disorganized wife with her likewise clumsy, disorganized husband picking up everything that had spilled out of their travel trailer cabinets and untangling their dogs in their leads at that first night’s stop on their 6 month journey across the US. She was invariably either the only woman or one of a couple of women engineers where she worked until she could hire those engineers herself. Aileen was that mom who gave birth without drugs because the babies came too fast. She was that mom in the stands cheering her kids’ teams, helping with the homework, caring for them when they were sick and attending to all the mundane day to day tasks and affairs of every family. She was that mom who got lost on the beach with her kids and had to interrupt a party host to ask directions and then accept a ride from him back to their condo. Aileen was that speaker who captivated the Alaska high school class by engaging them in plotting a murder mystery with the state champion hockey team goalie as the victim. She was that neighbor who put together gift bags for the neighboring children at almost every holiday. Aileen was that hospital patient who had her doctor simultaneously laughing and crying before she went into home hospice care near the end of her life. And Aileen was so much more. She was truly a unique and extraordinary person and she is deeply missed by all who loved her.
Aileen is that spark against the distant desert mountains and may she ever soar close to the sun in lonely lands!
Aileen declined any funeral or memorial service. She was always an ardent dog lover and her family would be honored for her to be remembered in donations to any dog related charity.
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