'She took care of everyone': Labrador mourns life-long volunteer killed in suspicious fire
Regula Schule, 88, died in house fire that police have deemed supicious
She came to Labrador as a Moravian missionary in the Sixties and she never left.
Friends are mourning the loss of Regula Schule, 88, who was killed in a weekend house fire in Happy Valley-Goose Bay that police say is suspicious. Officers from a major crimes unit from Corner Brook are being called in to assist with the investigation.
Schule moved to Labrador in the late 1960s from Switzerland as a teacher with the mission.
Outside the classroom she quickly gained a reputation for her generous spirit, spending much of her free time working with inmates at the Labrador Correctional Centre and volunteering with the Moravian Church.
Not long after moving to Labrador, Schule adopted one of her students, Susie.
"They made a really big impression," said long-time friend Bertha Holeiter.
"She did so much up here. She had her own food bank. She'd buy a whole lot of groceries and give groceries away to anybody who needed something," Holeiter said.
'That's just the way she was'
As a highly-respected member of the Moravian Church, Schule would play organ most Sundays and offer service when a minister wasn't available.
"She'd bring people into church who couldn't come on their own in a taxi. She'd be up in the front preaching and the taxi would come, and she would just hurry out the door and pay for the taxi," Holeiter said.
"That's just the way she was."
"Regula ministered to everyone, every day of her life," said Johannes Lampe, the president of Nunatsiavut, who met Schule 20 years ago when he first got involved in the Moravian Church.
"She looked to all those who had no one to help them …she took care of everyone."
Lampe said Schule was often called upon to do outreach work and crisis counselling when tragedy struck the Inuit coastal communities in Nunatsiavut.
"Regula did a lot more than a lot of people know. But at the same time, a lot of people got to know Regula. So she will sorely be missed," Lampe said.
Visited inmates frequently
Even at 88 years old, Schule showed few signs of slowing down. She continued to visit inmates imprisoned in Happy Valley-Goose Bay a few nights a week. Schule also worked with offenders after their release to help them find places to live and keep them out of trouble.
Diane Climenhage, who also works with offenders, said Schule had a soft spot for the men at the Labrador Correctional Centre.
"She really had a heart for the inmates, she calls them 'my boys' and she does a bible study with them every Tuesday night," Climenhage said.
"I asked her once if I could go with her and she said, 'You can come one time, but no, you can't go after that. They're my boys.'"
Gordon Obed, the lay minister at the Moravian Church in Nain, has kept in touch with Schule over the years to talk church business, but the pair first met 40 years ago.
"I was in hospital in North West River. I had a Ski-doo accident and I was there for a month and a week."
Obed's wife and two-year-old daughter were able to secure a flight from Nain to see him, but had nowhere to stay. That's when Regula stepped in.
"I sort of panicked, but somehow she agreed to take them in," Obed said.
Funeral arrangements are not yet finalized, but people are already thinking about larger ways to honour Schule.
Recognized for work with homeless
Denise Cole, the housing development co-ordinator with the Newfoundland and Labrador Housing and Homelessness Network in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, says Schule's contribution was priceless.
"From housing them at times, feeding them, clothing them, helping them out financially," Cole said.
"She also was a voice…she would speak up for people who she knew wouldn't be coming to these sessions or wouldn't be invited to these sessions."
A brand-new homeless shelter is due to open in Happy Valley-Goose Bay next month. Cole would like to see it named in honour of Schule.
It will take time, Cole said, to even understand how much work Schule did in the community and how to fill her shoes.
"All of the people who were in need that came to her door every day, who were fed, who were given that love and compassion, I hurt for them. I wonder how they're doing now with her gone," she said.
"How do we help them feel safe, and to be able to grieve? It's a hurting time, I guess, and hopefully a healing time, too."
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
