Samuel L. Scherschel

Samuel Lee “Sam” Scherschel, 73, a resident of Plainfield, Indiana, passed away unexpectedly on March 11^th, 2022 while at home with his wife, sister-in-law and brother-in-law. 

Sam was born in Bloomington, Indiana on February 27^th, 1949 to James and Blanche Scherschel.  He was the fifth of six kids and grew up on his parent’s farm in Bloomington.  He loved the farm life and talked often of the days from his youth that he spent baling hay and helping with the day-to-day chores.  While the work on the farm was not easy, he did take time to wander the fields and woods, search for crawdads in the streams, and jump or swing from the barn rafters into the hay bales.  He often shared fond memories of the thousands of baskets he shot at the basketball hoop they had in their barn and footballs lobbed with his brothers.

The work ethic that Sam learned on the farm served him well throughout his life.  Sam attended Bloomington High School and graduated with the class of 1967.  He then went on to complete a Bachelor of Science in Business degree at Indiana University- Bloomington and completed his MBA at University of Louisville while working at his first professional job at Louisville Cement Company.  Sam and his family later moved to Indianapolis, where he worked for Amax Coal Company for 17 years, and at America Trans Air, Conseco and other corporations in Indianapolis, becoming a “spreadsheet guru”, he was proud of his work developing user friendly software for financial analysis, greatly improving efficiency and accuracy. He worked at Cinergy/Duke Energy for 12 years and 7 years at Brightpoint/Ingram Micro in Plainfield, until he retired in 2019.

Sam’s greatest pride and joy was his family.  Sam and his first wife, Cindy had three beautiful children, Theresa, Brian and Scott.  His favorite memories were taking care of them after school and work, taking them on excursions, sledding, skating, visiting the family farm.  After Sam and Cindy divorced, Sam reunited with his high school sweetheart, Paula.  They married in 1998 at Beck Chapel on the Indiana University campus and were together for 23 happy years, until his death.

Sam was truly one-of-a-kind.  Highly intelligent, he had a kind heart and he would do anything for anyone.  He was a huge Indiana University football and basketball fan and generally a “sports nut” who could (and would) tell you details about games as far back as the 70’s and before. He also was a treasure trove of information when it came to football, history, and all manner random information, which he would pull out of his hat when the fancy hit him, even if it had nothing to do with your current conversation.  He will be greatly missed by all that knew and loved him.

Sam is survived by his wife and best friend, Paula; his beloved children, Theresa (Trevor) Grove, and Brian Scherschel; his stepchildren, Erin (Rob) Stultz, Heather (Ken) Zerfass; his adored grandchildren, Katherine Grove and Nicholas Grove, and step-grandchildren, Abigail, Isabella, Alexis, Jacob, Elena, Maxwell, Mason, and Ethan; his siblings Martha (Richard) Becher, Anthony (Shirley) Scherschel, Jeanette (Edward) Carr, Daniel (Sondra) Scherschel, Leo (Patricia) Scherschel and so, so many wonderful nieces and nephews. His faithful dogs, Hoagy and Sally will be lost without him.  Sam is preceded in death by his father and mother, James and Blanche, and his son, Scott.

A viewing will be held at Hampton-Gentry Funeral Home, 106 Shaw Street, Plainfield, Indiana on Thursday, March 17, 2022. Viewing for friends and associates will be from 4:00 pm until the time of service. The service will begin at 7:00 pm. Sam has chosen cremation and entombment at Maple Hill Cemetery in Plainfield. There will be no graveside service.