Doris Jean Schaefer, 86, of Greenville, died Sunday, Aug. 2, 2020, surrounded by family.
Visitation will be held Thursday, Aug. 6, from 4 to 8 p.m. at Our Redeemer Lutheran Church in Greenville.
Funeral services will be held Friday, Aug. 7, at 11 a.m. at the church. Interment will follow in Mt. Auburn Cemetery. Donnell-Wiegand Funeral Home in Greenville is assisting the family.
Mrs. Schaefer was born May 14, 1934, in Granite City, to Dempsey Matthew and Anna (Mahnken) Guthrie. She married Walter Schaefer in 1958, and they spent 15 years together.
Baptized as an infant and confirmed in her teens, she grew up in Madison. She attended public school in Madison, graduating in 1952. She was Missouri Synod Lutheran. Upon moving to Greenville in the spring of 1961, she joined the congregation of Our Redeemer Lutheran Church.
Along with her work as a mother and homemaker, she worked many years for Greenville College in the mail room and copy center, retiring in 1996. Many students and staff from those years remember her fondly.
She was interested and skilled in many things, including painting, sewing and poetry. She had an uncanny memory for poems and Bible verses, and was able to recite many of her favorites by memory even well into her 80s. Among those closest to her, she was known for her keen wit and sharp sense of humor. She also cherished her friends and family, and the farm and home, where she lived and raised her children.
Intelligent, witty and kind, she will be greatly missed by all who knew and loved her. Her children especially will be eternally grateful for the sacrifices she made on their behalf, and the love and support she bestowed upon them.
She is survived by her five children, Valerie Gaffner of Greenville, Kathleen Lewey of Hillsboro, Natalie Miller of Greenville, Kurt Schaefer of Seattle, WA, and Tom Schaefer of Greenville; daughter-in-law, Kristy Schaefer; sons-in-law, Ed Gaffner, Brian Lewey, Roscoe Miller and Travis Osborne; grandchildren, Amber, Jennifer, Molly, Liesl, Kord, Kreed, Nicole, Dylan, David, Ava and Colt; 11 great-grandchildren, Jarrett, Brooklyn, Landon, Cadence, Benjamin, Emma, Finn, Alita, Aubree, Wiley and Averee.
Mrs. Schaefer was preceded in death by her older siblings, Anna May Turner, Dempsey Melvin Guthrie and Ruth Laverne Guthrie.
Memorials may be made to Our Redeemer Lutheran Church or to the Alzheimer’s Foundation at alzfdn.org. Memorials may be mailed to Donnell-Wiegand Funeral Home at 203 West Oak Street, Greenville, IL 62246.
Online condolences may be left at www.donnellwiegand.com.
