Selma Lee Schwartz

Selma was born on 2/24/26, in Houston TX, to Rosetta Gordon Davidson and Jack Davidson. She lived in Houston until the depression struck, at which point the whole family moved to Humble, TX.

She graduated from Jefferson Davis High School at 16, due to having skipped 2 grades. Babe attended a business college and then worked for a bank, delivering checks for large amounts of money, to the Rice Exchange, the Cotton Exchange and some of the largest banks in Houston.

She met her future husband, Marshall Robert “Bob” Schwartz during WWll, while she and friends were sunning on the beach in Galveston, on the Gulf of Mexico. He and some of his Coast Guard buddies were temporarily stationed there and were walking around watching the girls on the beach. The guys jumped down and started talking to the group, asking them out. Babe said “no”, but gave Bob her phone number. She then went home and told her mother she had met the man she was going to marry. Bob gave her the nickname she was known by from then on: she was “Bob’s Babe” And several months later they were married. They married in Chicago, where he was from. In order to get there, at 18 years old, she took a plane and a train by herself. This was during the war years and travel was not always easy. They were married 8/19/1944. Babe lived in several cities during the war, following Bob’s ship when it came into port. Housing was not easy to find, and they sometimes shared houses with other couples. Some of them became lifelong friends.

After the war ended, they moved back to Chicago, where they had three children, Barbara, Steven, and Sydney Jo. They moved to Indiana and those were the busy years. Bob traveled for his job, and Babe was a Brownie Leader, a Girl Scout Leader, a Cub Scout Leader, a baseball coach for her son’s baseball team, a Room Mother and a PTA President. She organized school carnivals, supervised Girl Scout cookie sales and made it all look easy.

Following a move to Hoffman Estates, IL, Babe went to work for Pure Oil as a temporary worker. She soon was hired full time, as Pure became Union Oil. She worked her way up to a position as a Marketing Analyst, which was very unusual for a woman at that time. She was very proud of her work there, and during that time she became President of Desk & Derrick, a professional organization for women in the oil industry. With Desk & Derrick, she traveled to oil rigs, off shore oil platforms, and even traveled to the Arctic Circle.

Upon retirement, Bob and Babe moved to North Ft. Myers, FL. They enjoyed many years of new friends, community activities and traveling. And did they travel! They went to New Zealand, Australia, Thailand, Italy, Greece, Japan, Alaska, Scandinavia, Europe, Mexico and many other countries. They even took a trip on a tramp steamer. When they weren’t traveling, they enjoyed spending time with their children, grandchildren, and eventually, great grandchildren. Babe also had a heart for giving back, and found time to start a charity fundraiser that over 10 years, raised more than $300,000 for various needs in Ft. Myers. When she and Bob left their community in North Ft. Myers, she was honored with a ceremony attended by county commissioners, Fire Marshalls and CEOs of the charities they had aided.

After Bob’s death, Babe spent her final years in Longwood, FL. While there, she enjoyed volunteering at the Sharing Center, as their oldest volunteer. She made many friends at Cascade Heights, playing bingo, mahjong, canasta, and rummikub., as well as making sure she got her weekly Lotto tickets.

She was a loving woman, and a loved woman. Her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren would all agree that their lives were immeasurably enriched for having known her. She leaves behind her children: Barbara (Dewey}, Steven {Terry Ann} and Sydney {Craig}. In addition, she leaves 6 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren.

In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation in honor of Selma “Babe” Schwartz to St.Jude’s Children’s Hospital.

A celebration of life will be held at Cascade Heights on 3/28/25, at 10:30.