DOLORES RITA CONNELL SCHAFER

Dolores C. Schafer, 76, of Jacksonville, FL, formerly of Ormond Beach, FL, and Philadelphia, PA, died peacefully in her home on November 18 after a six-month illness. Services will be held Monday, November 23, at 11:00 a.m. at San José Catholic Church, 3619 Toledo Road, Jacksonville, FL, 32217. Dolores Rita Connell was born July 13, 1933, in Philadelphia, PA, to James Earl Connell and the former Catharine (Kitty) Gertrude Mullany. She attended high school at Mater Misericordiae (now Merion Mercy Academy), graduating in 1951, and in 1955 she earned her bachelor of arts in philosophy at Chestnut Hill College, where she also majored in mathematics. After college Dolores worked as a programmer or "automatic coder" on the UNIVAC (Universal Automatic Computer) at the Franklin Institute. There she met her husband-to-be, James Otto Schafer, and she worked there until the birth of their first child. Jim and Dolores were married in 1957 and had five children. Jim's job at General Electric took them to Ormond Beach, FL, where they settled in 1963 and lived until 2003 when they moved to Jacksonville, FL, to be near their daughter Carolyn's family. They had been married 49 years when Jim died in 2007. In Ormond Beach the Schafers were very involved in civil rights efforts, and Dolores was one of the founders of the Ormond Beach Neighborhood Child Development Center, which opened in 1969 and was for many years one of the largest day care facilities for low-income working families in Volusia County. In the 1970s Dolores continued her education and entered the mental health field. She worked as a substance abuse counselor at the Stewart Marchman Center in Daytona Beach for nine years and led the center's family education program. She opened her own practice in 1989, becoming a licensed marriage and family therapist and later a certified sex therapist. Upon moving to Jacksonville she re-established her practice on Baymeadows Road, where she worked until she became ill in June of this year. Dolores was preceded in death by her husband and by her brother Francis X. Connell. Survivors include her children, Daniel Schafer (JoAnn) of Ormond Beach, Suzanne Schafer (Richard) of Tucson, AZ, Kenneth Schafer (Mette) of Baton Rouge, LA, Robert Schafer (Maria) of Tybee Island, GA, and Carolyn Cordek (Andy) of Jacksonville, as well as her brothers, James E. Connell, Jr., and Raymond Connell, and her grandchildren, Jessica, B.J., Michael, Amber, Calaine, Jeffrey, Rachel, Patrick, Chelsea, Matthew, Marcus, and Sophia. She was eagerly awaiting the birth of her first great-grandchild. Dolores will be deeply missed by her colleagues and the many people she counseled, taught, and comforted throughout her career, and even more by her friends and by her children, grandchildren, brothers, nieces and nephews. None of us could have imagined a more loving, dedicated, generous and fun mother, grandmother, aunt and friend. We owe her the life of our family.In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Stewart-Marchman-Act Behavioral Healthcare, 3875 Tiger Bay Road, Daytona Beach, FL, 32124.