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Pearl K. Schaefer

Pearl K. Schaefer, 101, Woodstock, died Monday, July 16, at Apostolic Christian Resthaven, Elgin.

She was born July 14, 1911, in Des Plaines, to John and Florence (Kiemer) Koelling. 

On Nov. 19, 1941, she married Rudolph Schaefer in Des Plaines.

After graduating high school, she worked for the city of Des Plaines and at one point served as city clerk.  

She became a stay-at-home wife and mother and later worked for School District 62 as a secretary until she retired at age 65. 

She loved to travel and sing, and she joined the Chicago Bach Chorus, which sang with the Chicago Symphony.  She and her husband moved to the Woodstock area in 1979, and, after the death of her husband in 1993, she moved to the Hearthstone Community in 1994.

She delighted the residents with playing sing-along songs on the piano and started a monthly newsletter called “Hearthstone Herald,” which included interviews, poems and commentary on current events.  Survivors include two sons, Paul (Kathleen) Schaefer, Elgin, and John (Joan) Schaefer, Leawood, Kan.; a daughter, Virginia Cooke, Laguna, Calif.; eight grandchildren, Erin Parker, Lindey and Natalie Schaefer, Duncan and Gillian Munro, Sabrina, Michelle and Danielle Cooke; and a great-grandchild, Abby Parker.

She was preceded in death by her parents and her husband.

Visitation was July 20 at Schneider-Leucht-Merwin & Cooney Funeral Home, Woodstock. 

The funeral was July 21 at St. John’s Lutheran Church, Woodstock, followed by burial at Union Cemetery, Crystal Lake.

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