Woman’s life a tale of romance

Veronica May “Gaga” Eberhardt had an unusual start that led to a storybook marriage.

Eberhardt was born to carnival workers in one of the troupe’s tents, daughter Tracy Eberhardt-Schneider said.

After leaving the carnival, the family settled down in Texas City, where she grew up. As a teenager, she got a job at an ice cream shop.

One day, two soldiers walked in. She thought one of them was “very good-looking,” but the other one was more persistent, eventually persuading her to get married, her daughter said.

“My dad was madly in love,” Eberhardt-Schneider said.

The couple got married in 1942, during World War II. While Harry G. Eberhardt served overseas, the couple wrote to each other almost daily, granddaughter Aimee Candelas said.

“If he couldn’t send her a letter, then he sent a telegram,” she said.

“He lived to be 90 and called her sweetheart up until the day he died ,” daughter Eberhard tSchneider said. The couple was married for 65 years.

Eberhardt died March 23 at home, surrounded by those she loved. She was 92.

Her fun nature and hospitality made their home the “fun place, where everyone wanted to be,” Eberhardt-Schneider said.

After the war ended, the family was stationed in Germany and France, giving Eberhardt the opportunity to explore Europe.

“She loved to travel,” Eberhardt-Schneider said.

“My mom and dad would go to Paris—she would barely let him put the luggage down in the room, and they were off.”