Loretta Barbara Schaefer, 1913‑2003

Juneau Resident Loretta Barbara Schaefer (90) passed away July 21, 2003 at the Juneau Pioneers' Home. Loretta was a native of Cleveland, Ohio born to Fred and Josephine Greener on September 13, 1913. In 1934 she married Al Gliebe and in 1936 they had their only child Georgene. Her husband Al passed away in 1944. In 1946 (August 21, 1946) she married George Schaefer of Mentor, Ohio.  In doing so she acquired a new family of three children, Melvin, Shirley and Dale. In 1972 Loretta and George moved from Mentor to Juneau Alaska to join her daughter Georgene Davidson. A year later the Schaefers moved to Moab, Utah. In 1984 George Schaefer passed away and Loretta continued to live in Utah until once again moving to Juneau in 1998.

The combined family gave Loretta 4 children, 10 grandchildren and 21 great‑grandchildren. Loretta has always been very active and supportive of her church. While in Moab she worked in and supported a second hand store operated by her church. This store provided financial support to the church sponsored grade school. In Juneau her church home was the Douglas Island Bible Church. She was a member of the Juneau Branch of the Salvation Army Women's Auxiliary.

She was preceded in death by her parents, her two husbands and a sister Sophie Sullivan. She is survived by a brother Fred Greener of Mentor Ohio and a sister Helen Cooper of Cleveland Ohio, Georgene Davidson of Juneau Alaska, Melvin Schaefer of Willoughby Hills Ohio, Shirley MacKinney of Madison Wisconsin and Dale Schaefer of Cincinnati Ohio as well as all of her grandchildren and great‑grandchildren.

A Memorial Service will be held at the Douglas Island Bible Church at 3:00 PM Friday, July 25. In lieu of flowers a gift could be sent to the Pioneers Home where Loretta resided this past year and a half. The gifts should be sent to "Juneau Pioneers Resident Council" - Juneau Pioneers' Home - 4675 Glacier Highway - Juneau, AK 99801.

This obituary could describe the life of thousands of women. Born in Ohio, married twice, one child, active in church and died far from her birthplace in the care of her loving daughter. Ma, however, was unique. When she died all her possessions‑a few dolls, some pictures, a few clothes‑would fit in one suitcase. Actually her whole body would fit in a suitcase. She was not skinny for no reason. She worked incessantly and could easily forget to eat. I can't remember her ever buying a new dress. Her clothes came from the second‑hand store and her family's clothes were recycled so those less fortunate could benefit.

In Ma's lifetime the contemporary ego-centric culture took shape. She, however, knew nothing of the self, self-worth or self-realization. For her, the hierarchy of human needs referred to the needs of others. Her life was devoted to nurturing souls, most of whom were male.

Ma's philosophy of life was captured by the Apostle Paul:

"I consider my life nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord has given me‑the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace." 

She has now finished the race and her life was truly a testimony of God's grace.

Ma joined the Schaefer family in 1946 and provided needed relief to a fifteen-year-old high school girl who had the responsibility of raising a 5-year-old motherless boy. This boy endlessly taunted, harassed, deceived and exploited Loretta. Often frustrated to tears she never gave up. She nurtured him through childhood and adolescence. When in college, he sent his dirty clothes home by mail and she sent them back cleaned and pressed.

To my knowledge, the only time Ma worked for pay was during World War II when men at war needed warplanes.

I watched her transform two simple homesteads into what I remember as estates. Everything was done with maximum work and minimum expense‑‑Plants dug in the wild using recycled tools with taped handles. Pots, of course, were other people's rejects. Weeds were dug out, not sprayed. Bugs were picked off by hand. We are not talking cute little ladybugs, but big ugly creatures. Obviously, no chemical fertilizers were allowed. Unfortunately I retain none of these skills.

After retirement, Ma was at my father's side as they devoted themselves to improving the lives of their children. Until she became disabled, I can't remember that she ever relaxed or rested. I still have the hand written sign she left tacked to a floor joist after they built an addition to our house in New Mexico. I also remember the frustration on the last job when Pa had lost the ability to make the required measurements.

Ma was highly conscious of people in her environment who were in need. She knew the poor families in the neighborhood. As far as I know, invented the concept of a "care package." Such packages were always under construction in our house, either for missionaries or a neighborhood family.

When she was eighty years old she operated a thrift store in Moab, Utah. Again she worked tirelessly to raise money for a tiny Christian School, while providing clothes and household items to the citizens of Moab at minimal cost. She lived on a few hundred dollars a month and gave the rest of her social security check away.

Ma was totally committed to my father, often under very trying circumstances. Born to a broken family, raised in an orphanage, it was not clear that Pa could ever be fully socialized. If anybody had the perseverance to do it, however, she did. She was constantly at his side, even honoring his desire not to be institutionalized in death. In his dying months, she nursed him in her living room, changed his diapers and prayed for him.

I regard it as God's providence that during many difficult years, life was made a little easier because of the kindness and understanding of two little churches, Moab Christian Center and Douglas Island Bible Church. In the last year, Ma also experienced endless kindness from the staff at Juneau Pioneers' home.

I have Ma's Bible and you can get an inkling of her character by leafing through it. Verses and poems are taped in the fly leafs. Of course, all are written on used paper. Here is one written on a JC Penney envelope. Here is a blank piece for a note never written. It is obviously cut from the bottom of a salvaged document of some kind.

Probably one of the last notes she was able to write was this one:

"Open my eyes Lord,

I want to see Jesus

To reach out and touch Him

To tell Him I love Him.

Open my ears Lord

And help me to listen.

Open my eyes Lord

I want to see Jesus."

Ma had a sense of eternity that was the basis of her character.

As I am sure you are aware, I am the five-year-old motherless boy Loretta nurtured sixty years ago. She touched many lives with kindness, most of whom didn't even know her. She touched me, however, in a special way-through her sense of eternity.

When I see Jesus I know I will see her again.

Dale Schaefer, July 25, 2003, Juneau, AK