Ila Schoettler has been chosen to reign as Queen of 2026 Old Timers Day on Saturday.
Her coronation ceremony will be at the Madera Old Timers’ Dinner and Silent Auction at the Elks Lodge, 112 W. 6th Street, Friday evening.
Most people think of Ila as a native Maderan, but she was born in Jasper, Alabama, in 1934. Both her parents came from large families. Her father was one of 11 children. Her mother was one of 10 children. Ila had only one brother, James.
The Cordes family of four moved to Madera in 1949 when Ila was nine.
It was after the war, and her parents had worked in the cotton mill together in Alabama, but there was not much work available. Her dad was promised a job in California at El Peco Ranch.
“My brother went back after he retired from the service. He took his family with six children. He took them all back to Alabama,” she said.
Every year, she goes back to Alabama for reunions.
“It’s like we have the whole town at our reunions.” she said as she showed a picture of a huge crowd of people related to her in Alabama.
After moving to California, Ila attended La Vina, but she changed schools many times. The first one in town was Pershing, and then Lincoln. The last grammar school she attended was Howard School before going in as a freshman at Madera High, which was called Madera Union High School at that time.
“I graduated in 1952, and I got married in June of 1953, a year after I graduated,” she said. “Right out of high school, I went to work at McCumber Drugstore, waiting on customers. I was already engaged. I got engaged in high school when I was a senior,” she said.
She married Tom Schoettler.
When asked if she went to college, she said, “We had no money for college. I wanted to be an attorney so bad because I loved Perry Mason.”
Tom was from Fresno, attending San Joaquin Memorial. He moved to Madera when he was a junior.
“But I didn’t know him at all in school. I didn’t meet him until after he graduated,” Ila said.
Tom’s dad had a gas station on the corner of the old freeway, what is now called Gateway and Yosemite.
Tom joined the Navy, and was stationed in South Laguna, so eventually Ila moved down there to be with him. It was there that their first child was conceived, Terry.
“I went there, and Tom and one of his buddies had already gone around and found a house. Tom was just as anxious for me to come as I was to go,” she said.
By the time Terry was born, they were back in Madera. All together, Tom and Ila had five sons, Terry, Tim, Keith, Kenny, and Ron.
All five sons live in Madera, and have raised children in the community. Ila boasts a total of 50 grandchildren and great grandchildren.
Ila has had a variety of jobs over the years. She worked at McMahan’s Furniture Store for 12 years.
“That’s where I was so shy,” she said.
She explained that she was too shy to talk with customers, and so her coworkers would tease her about her shyness.
“I had four of my children while I was working. When they opened their store in Fresno, they sent me down there, but I had five kids at home. I was a nervous wreck, wondering if I would get home,” she said. “And Tom would come home and complain about the babysitter. He said, ‘The kids were on the roof.’ And he said that one of the boys was running around with a snotty nose. He said, ‘So I fired her.’”
While she was working at McMahan’s, her mother and her husband became the babysitters.
Ila really wanted to stay home with the children, but she had to go to work.
”I wanted to be a mother. I wanted to play with them, and grow up with them, but I had to work,” she said.
She went to work in 1960 at Dearborn Hospital in the billing department, and worked there for five years before the new hospital (Madera Community Hospital) was built. She decided to retire, but then got called back to work. She answered the phone and gave directions, and did other tasks as needed.
“They turned the job into a full-time job, and then I’m stuck. I retired again at the other hospital. And guess what? ‘Can you just stay and work a few days a week and do this job?’ I worked every department except the kitchen,” she said.
She was at Dearborn Hospital for just five years, and the rest of the time was at MCH. She enjoyed her work there because of the variety of work she did. She thought it was interesting and fun.
She said she didn’t fully retire until she was 87.
Now, she enjoys spending time visiting people. She has several friends who live at Cedar Creek, and others living in retirement places in Fresno.
She also enjoys visiting her family, wherever they may be.
Three of her sons work at Schoettler Tire, the business started by their grandfather. She explained how it all got started.
“Tom’s dad had a tire place in Fresno, and Mr. Harrington and my father-in-law got together and became partners. Harrington and Schoettler is what it was called. So, it became the tire and gas station.
When Mr. Harrington died, his widow sold Harrington’s part to Tom’s father, and it became Schoettler Tire,” she said.
“Three of my sons work there, Tim, Terry, and Kenny,” she said. “Ronnie drives the school bus, and he has for 20-something years.”
Tom and Ila had been married 61 years when he passed away in 2014. She still misses him, but has a fulfilling life with all her many friends and family.
Ila is a woman of strong faith. She was raised in the Baptist Church, but became Catholic after she was married.