Annie Sue Farrington Scherer was born February 12, 1927, in her grandparents’ home on Sand Mountain, in Etowah County, Ala. Along with her parents, Fletcher and Eunice Gulledge Farrington, she stayed in her grandparents’ bedroom to be near the warming fireplace. Whispers of Creeks versus Red Sticks and croppers and gentry still hung in the air.
During her school years, Sue divided fabric and silk stockings and measured flour as her contribution to the county ration board. She graduated from Tallapoosa County High School in Dadeville, Ala., in 1945. While attending Huntingdon College in Montgomery, Ala., Sue was a member of the USO at Gunter and Maxwell Fields and celebrated with the troops as they returned home from The War. Sue won a 4-H trip to Chicago sewing several garments from printed feed sacks. She was a member of the Mortar Board Honor Society. Sue graduated from Auburn University, then known as Alabama Polytechnic Institute, in 1949.
Annie Sue Farrington married John Paul Scherer in Dadeville on December 21, 1949. They were married 66 years. In her early married life, she was a social worker with the Alabama Department of Welfare in the foothills of Appalachia. One of her oft told tales was about driving through slick muddy mountain roads to visit a client. The man approached her before she could get out of her car and asked her to leave immediately. Sue hesitated as the location was difficult to reach and she did not want to make the trip again. As the client was asking her to leave once again, there was a loud boom. The still had just been blown. Sue left before the revenuers arrived.
Throughout her life, Sue taught Sunday School and Bible School in Missouri, Alabama, Texas and Georgia. She camped with her husband in 49 states, Mexico and Canada. With the Missouri Presbytery, she and Paul made two mission trips to Hungary and Eastern Europe while they were still behind the Iron Curtain. She was a member and past president of both the Lady Bugs Extension Club and the GFWC Montgomery Study Club. One of her proudest accomplishments was reading all of the “100 Best Books of the 20th Century.”
Sue is survived by many friends and family, including her Thursday Bridge Club and her Pairs and Spares Sunday School Class. She enjoyed spending time with family members including John Scherer and wife, Mary Beth, their children and grandchildren Mallory, Austin, Theo, Meredith, Shane, Jade and Camryn; Fred Scherer and wife Glenda, their children and grandchildren Collin, Sarah, Parker and Carson; Carole Harness and children and grandchildren Alex, Shannon, Gideon, Hazel, John, Ben, Ross, Sydney and Ellie; Adam Scherer and wife Cathy, their children and grandchildren Craig, Melissa, Don, Jessica, Brandon, Urich, Sydney, Erik, Ingrid and Henry.
Sue’s only brother, “Buddy” Fletcher Farrington, Jr. passed away as clouds began to roil through the Gulf during Hurricane Katrina. Her sister, Barbara, spent time with Sue on her last birthday, visiting from California. Sue’s surviving sister, Betty, called daily to ease Sue’s time at the end. Suggestions to go home to rest in her own bed were denied as strawberry pie was still to be made. For the bridge club.
Memorial services will be held on Nov. 7 at the United Methodist Presbyterian Church in Montgomery City. Visitation is scheduled for 10 a.m.-noon, with the funeral service following at noon.
The burial of both Sue’s and Paul’s ashes will be held at the Middleton Cumberland Presbyterian Church cemetery in Ohatchee, Ala., on March 19, 2027. A reception will be held afterwards at Noccalula Falls Park in Gadsden, Ala.
Memorials are suggested to the Montgomery County Senior Center, in care of Schlanker Funeral Home, 207 Danville Road, Montgomery City, Missouri 63361.
