R.W. SCHLUTER

Reinhold W. Schluter (1890-1966) was a native of Siegersleben, Germany.  He was born there on November 6, 1890.  Mr. Schluter never married.  During WWI, he joined the German navy and saw combat on the high seas.  Post war, Schluter became a merchant sailor and sailed the seven seas until his retirement.  Reinhold W. Schluter came to Ocean Springs to reside in 1938.(The Ocean Springs News, April 19, 1962, p. 1)

Schluter Park

In April 1923, several years before his demise on July 21, 1928, Charles A. Forkert (1854-1928) sold his Bay View Pecan Nursery and pecan lands to his step-daughter, Antoinette Haas Veillon (1869-1953), the spouse of Alceide T. Veillon (1862-1949).  She conveyed them for $6500 to Reinhold W. Schluter in January 1935.  The sale included the SW/2 of the NW/4 of Section 29, T7S-R8W, except a lot in the NW/C of said 40-acre tract that measures 630 feet east and west and 280 feet north and south.(JXCO Land Deed Bk. 53, p. 27 and Bk. 66, pp. 550-552) 

In 1944, Reinhold W. Schluter wished to obtain the right, title, and interest in the pecan varieties that Charles A. Forkert had developed at his Bay View Pecan Nursery.  Since Mrs. Forkert had bequeathed her estate to her daughter, Antoinette Haas Veillon, her permission was required.  Mrs. Veillon gave Schluter the rights and he planned to secure patents to the Forkert pecan cultivars.(JXCO, Ms. Chancery Court Cause No. 5084 and No. 9009).

In March 1952, Mr. Schluter platted his pecan orchard lands along Kensington Drive as the Schluter Park Subdivision.  This tract situated in Sections 29 and 30, T7S-R8W, consists of twenty-four lots formerly Block 7 thru Block 14 of the Alto Park Subdivision,(JXCO, Ms. Chancery Court Plat Bk. 2, p. 39)

Schluter scholarship

In May 1962, R.W. Schluter commenced a scholarship fund for the Ocean Springs High School.  Nominations for the award were to be made by the faculty based on scholastic ability, personal qualifications, and financial necessity.  The initial gift by Mr. Schluter was $500.(The Ocean Springs News, April 19, 1962, p. 1 and Schmidt, 1972, p. 130)

            The R.W. Schluter scholarship is extant today.  It is managed by a Gulfport based bank and awarded on a need basis to a selected Ocean Springs High School student when sufficient funds have been generated from the original pecuniary grant donated by Mr. Schluter.

Demise

            Reinhold W. Schluter expired on April 19, 1966 at his home at 1802 Stuart Avenue from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.  Trudy Lemon, his neighbor who had cared for the elderly German, discovered his corpse following his suicide.  Schluter’s  corporal remains were interred in the Evergreen Cemetery on Old Fort Bayou.(The Daily Herald, April 20, 1966, p. 2)

Addenda:

Letter from Charlotte Schrieber Blanchette dated May 27, 2004

Dear Mr. Bellande,

            Thought you’d like this info just for the record: Schleuter was married.  His wife lived in his house on old US 90.  He was a purser on a ship and was out of town a lot until he retired.  He told me he came to the U.S. by way of Brazil and he had learned Portuguese there.  He also told me he was a German prisoner of the U.S. during WWI and was held some where in the Midwest-can’t remember where.  He had relatives in East Germany during the Cold War to whom he’d sent things that were hard to come by over there.  He was a buddy of Jim Carco, who I believe taught him to graft pecan trees.

            Just thought you’d like to know he was a good friend of my Daddys.

            Charlotte Blanchette

From Lurline Schrieber Hall per telephone on July 10, 2004.

            Mrs. Schluter ran a beauty salon on the ship, which Schluter worked.  Mr. Schluter, Dode Schrieber, my father, and Jean Basly met every Saturday at our house on Porter.  In the summer they sat in the yard and settled the world’s problems.  German and French were spoken.

REFERENCES:

C.E. Schmidt, Ocean Springs French Beachhead, (Lewis Printing Services: Pascagoula, Mississippi-1972).

Journals

The Daily Herald, “Gunshot Wound Kills Man In Ocean Springs”, April 20, 1966.

The Ocean Springs News, “Scholarship Grant By Schluter”, April 19, 1962.

The Ocean Springs Record, “Schluter Award Students Vie For”, April 13, 1967.