Betty worked side by side on the farm with her husband Syl. She also worked many years as a housekeeper at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Belleville, IL. She set together and marked many quilt tops for the quilters at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Smithton, giving a quilt each year herself for the Annual Picnic! She continued to do embroidery work shortly before her death. She was a member of St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Smithton, and the women’s sodality of the church. Betty was an avid Cardinal Baseball fan.
Betty was preceded in death by her husband, Sylvester Schaefer, whom she married on November 26, 1946, and who died on January 5, 1999; her parents, Frank and Rosa, nee Sauzek, Helfrich; and four sisters, Esther (Raymond) Reiniger, Bernice (Harvey) Weilbacher, Irene (Walter) Schubert, and Priscilla (Albert) Noerper.
Surviving are her children, Msgr. Dennis R. Schaefer,
Roselyn (Dennis) Kapp, Karen (Ronald) Birkner,
Stephen (Mary) Schaefer, Bruce Schaefer (friend Donna Gassmann),
and Brian Schaefer (fiancée Wanda Martin);
10 grandchildren, Jackie (Josh) Barber, Clarice (Curtis) McKay, Phil (Carrie) Schaefer,
Denise (Collin) Roever, Chris Birkner, Aaron (Bethany) Birkner, Nicole (fiancé Paul Donjon) Schaefer, Cory Schaefer (friend Amber Hollowell), Ryan Schaefer,
and Kaitlyn Schaefer;
Six great-grandchildren, Nolin Barber, Glavin Barber, Maybre Barber,
Camden McKay, Corbin McKay, Gabriella Roever, Nicolas Roever,
and Jaxon Birkner;
and many nieces, nephews, cousins and friends.
Memorials may be made to St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, Smithton, IL, or in the form of masses, or to the charity of the donor’s choice. Condolences may be expressed to the family online at www.rennerfh.com.
Visitation: Friends may visit from 4 to 8 p.m. Monday, May 20, 2019, and from 10 to 11 a.m. Tuesday, May 21, 2019, at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, Smithton, IL.
Funeral: A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 11 a.m. Tuesday, May 21, 2019, at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, Smithton, IL, with Msgr. Dennis Schaefer and Father Stan Konieczny concelebrating
Burial will be at St. John’s Catholic Cemetery, Smithton, IL.