City of Morgan Hill staff and elected officials are asking the community to support the family of former City Manager Steve Rymer, whose daughter died Nov. 29 due to complications from heart surgery.
Michelle Kathleen Schull, 28, lived in Mankato, Minn., and was a graduate of Sobrato High School. She was married to Dustin Schull, according to an obituary posted on Mankato Mortuary’s website. The couple recently had a young daughter, Kennedy Kathleen Schull, who is now about three months old.
The obituary states Schull’s family is asking for donations to the Kennedy Kathleen Education Fund, which can be made on a gofundme.com page set up for that purpose. Money donated to the fund will support the future education for the Schulls’ daughter.
Alternatively, the family is asking for donations to the American Heart Association.
Rymer moved to Minnesota at the end of last summer with his wife, Helene, to accept a job as City Administrator for the City of Rochester. Originally from Minnesota, Rymer cited his family there as one reason he pursued and accepted the new job. The council appointed him as city manager in 2013.
At current City Manager Christina Turner’s request, the Morgan Hill City Council adjourned the Dec. 6 meeting in remembrance of Michelle Schull.
Turner also informed the public about the gofundme page set up for Schull’s daughter. The campaign raised nearly $21,000 as of Dec. 11. She also asked city staff to wear red last Friday, Dec. 8, to support the AHA’s “Go Red For Women” campaign to encourage awareness of heart disease.
“My family and I thank the city and Morgan Hill community for the overwhelming support and prayers during this difficult time,” Rymer said in an email.
The gofundme page, which is found at gofundme.com/kennedykathleenschull-edu, describes that at the age of 16, doctors found that Schull needed a pacemaker and defibrillator. She was told that pregnancy might not be possible in her future. But “love persisted” between her and her husband, who she met in 2009, according to the page.
After their marriage in 2014, doctors “believed in Michelle’s heart, and supported her and Dustin’s desire to start a family,” according to the gofundme page.
Four months into her pregnancy, doctors determined she needed surgery to replace the wires in her heart device, the gofundme page says.
Kennedy was born Aug. 30, and the replacement surgery was scheduled for Nov. 21. “The outcome of the surgery was unfathomable, even understanding the possibilities of complications, and Michelle’s family let her go to be with the Lord on Wednesday, November 29, 2017,” reads the fundraising page. Her organs were donated to other patients in need.
“Michelle’s impact was felt daily as she worked in schools with families with children diagnosed with exceptional learning abilities,” the gofundme page adds.
Michelle Schull was born in Minnesota. After graduating from Sobrato, she moved back to Minnesota for college, where she received undergraduate and graduate degrees from Minnesota State Mankato.
Rymer added that Schull was a “great ambassador” for the American Heart Association, and she often called national Go Red Day (Feb. 3) her birthday because she “loved what it meant for her and others.”
