Obituary of Mary Lynn Shultz

            Mary Lynn (Schilberg) Shultz, age 73 of Ontario, CA and formerly of South Dakota passed away Friday, May 7, 2021 at Pomona Valley Hospital, Pomona, CA.  Funeral services will be 11:00 a.m., Friday, May 21, 2021 at Opsahl-Kostel Funeral Home and Crematory in Yankton with the Rev. Oryn Meinerts officiating.  Burial will be in the Emery Community Cemetery at Emery, SD.  Live streaming of Mary Lynn's services will be at:  https://www.facebook.com/opsahlkostel/live.  Online condolences may be made at:  www.opsahl-kostelfuneralhome.com.  Arrangements are under the direction of Opsahl-Kostel Funeral Home and Crematory in Yankton.

Mary Lynn was born September 13, 1947 to William Louis Schilberg and Vera Iona (Janssen) Schilberg. She was soon joined by two sisters: Ruth Ellen (1949) and Doris Gail (1950), and eventually by her brother Henry Louis (1961). Hank was named after his grandfathers,
similarly to Mary Lynn's being named after her grandmothers. Mary Lynn has remarked best things about her youthful life on rural Emery farm were: lots of time spent outdoors, extra special Meinerts neighbors, driving tractor and having pet dogs.
Mary Lynn always loved music and one unique experience for her was playing flute with Emery High School Band when she was only an eighth grader. That was the same year she was a cheerleader for the Emery Grade School Comets.
Her high school years at Alexandria were busy with high school chorus, church choir, and community chorus, band and pep club, church youth group and 4H, plus being a waitress at a local café.
Mary Lynn won an essay writing contest which awarded her a trip with other South Dakota youth to New York City and our nation's capital. She had many good memories of that trip but the most unusual was visiting President Kennedy's grave which was cordoned off with a white picket fence. The following year Mary Lynn enjoyed going with MYF to New York City and Washington, DC. Mary Lynn travelled with her family to many different states. Special memories were throwing snowballs in August atop Mount Evans, Colorado (1958) and the World's Fair in Seattle, Washington (1962).
In 1973 Mary Lynn married Duane Shultz and they moved to Georgia. They returned to South Dakota and eventually divorced. At that time Mary Lynn was living in Sioux Falls, working full time and going to night school where she earned a computer certificate from Southeast Area Community College.
In 1985 she moved to California. Her work life involved accounting and computers, usually with not-for-profit entities. For fun, Mary Lynn liked to read, attend auto races, appreciate live performances at various playhouses, go to the movies and to outdoor summer concerts.
She appreciated joy-filled times with family; her biggest joy was her godchild Steph and family.
Mary Lynn continued to enjoy traveling, saying "After South Dakota, Colorado is the best place to vacation" and she visited there repeatedly, besides exploring Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota, Illinois, Missouri and Wisconsin.
Mary Lynn was preceded in death by her parents and grandparents, numerous aunts and uncles, one sister, Karen Sue (1955) and two brothers, Jay William (1957) and Henry Louis (1961-2005) and a nephew, Paul Michael Sprecher (1977).
Mary Lynn is survived by her two sisters and one special brother-in-law: Ruth Schilberg (Viborg, SD) and Doris and Steven Sprecher (Yankton, SD); her godchild Steph Deneke, DVM, and Steph's family, husband Jerrod and children, Olivia and Sam (Pella, IA); her nephew, Jon Sprecher, his wife Abby and their daughters, Vera Jo, (Emery, SD) and Daisy (Yankton, SD); her niece and husband Stacey and Eric Briscoe (Redmond, OR).

In lieu of flowers, please donate to your favorite charity or
to:  City of Hope Research
1500 E Duarte Rd
Duarte, CA 91010