Violet Schafer 1921-2017
Violet Marie Schafer, 96, Onaga, died Friday, Aug. 11, 2017, at Onaga Health and Rehabilitation.
She was born March 8, 1921, in Axtell, the daughter of Dell and Thelma Larsen Benson. She spent most of her youth in Marshall County and graduated from Emporia High School.
Mrs. Schafer was a homemaker and farmed north of Vermillion with her husband. She and her husband sold the farm and the 1950s and they owned and managed Hand Cove Resort on Lake Norfolk in Arkansas. She also lived in Exira, Iowa, Alma, Ark., and Topeka, where she worked as a bookkeeper for Frenn’s Fabrics.
She was a Christian, and she taught Sunday school and sang in the choir in churches where she lived.
She married Harold Franklin Schafer of Vermillion on July 30, 1939. He preceded her in death. She also was preceded in death by her parents; a daughter, Marjorie A. Schafer; two sisters, June Bagby and Irene B. Williams; and a brother, Dell Benson Jr.
Survivors include a son, Franklin D. Schafer, Gallatin, Tenn.; two daughters, Frances E. Leiter, Mechanicsburg, Pa., and Thelma M. Schafer, Thousand Oaks, Calif.; eight grandchildren, Michelle Schafer, Stephanie Skinner, Jennifer Schafer, Calvin Leiter, Valerie Leiter, Lenee Inglehart, Christopher Inglehart and Justin Inglehart; and 10 great-grandchildren.
Private family memorial services will be held at a later date. Burial will be held in Vermillion Cemetery.
Memorial contributions may be made to the American Heart Association, sent in care of Mercer Funeral Home, P. O. Box 270, Holton, KS 66436.