She was born Ella Winkelmann in Nebraska, US, and was the fourth daughter of German parents. Her family, who raised her on a farm, sent her brothers to school but kept her home. She says, "If you don't want to work hard, don't go to a farm".
Marrying on 23 August 1923, at age 25, Schuler had three sons, all born in Kansas, US. She and her husband set up Schuler’s Grocery Business in Topeka, and eventually gathered enough money to get a gas station near their shop.
Schuler earned her high school diploma in her 50s, and had her eldest son die in 1952 at 26 from complications of appendicitis. The pair closed their store in 1978 to retire; Schuler's husband, however, died in early 1983, after nearly 60 years of marriage. She lived on her own until 98, when she sustained a fall in 1995 and subsequently moved to an assisted living care facility.
She is apparently still able to walk with assistance in the form of a wheeled walking frame. She still continues to read two or three hours a day, with a particular interest in scientific magazines.
Schuler is the world's second-oldest validated person on popular social networking site Facebook, behind Mississippi Winn, born 31 March 1897. Her profile can be found here.
Schuler is one of the 170 oldest people ever, the 87th oldest American on record, the oldest living person from Kansas, the sixth oldest living American, and the 12th oldest living person.
Update: Ms. Schuler passed away on 7 May 2011, aged 113 years, 244 days.