Fern Elizabeth Stauffer

Fern Elizabeth Stauffer passed away peacefully in her home Tuesday evening August 19th 2025 in Sun City West Arizona. Fern was born August 18, 1922, to Ada and Harvey Cline in Dixon, Illinois. She was a member of Lord of Life Lutheran Church in Sun City West. She graduated from Dixon High School in 1940. She married Farnwell (Bud) Stauffer, her high school sweetheart in 1945 in the Little Church of the Flower, Forest Lawn Glendale, California. Shortly after their wedding Bud was deployed to the Mariana Islands in the West Pacific as an MP. Fern lived with her sister Helen in Glendale, California while their husbands were deployed overseas. After the war she and Bud lived in West Lafayette, Indiana, in a small trailer off the Purdue University campus, while Bud completed his bachelor's degree in electrical engineering. When Bud graduated in 1953, they moved to their hometown Dixon, Illinois, where Bud began working for Commonwealth Edison and Fern began raising their family. He was often transferred to different locations within the State of Illinois during his career. Fern was a housewife as well as a secretary at Our Saviors Lutheran church and the Garrrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Naperville, IL. She worked for Stat Tabb supervising key punch staff in Springfield, IL. Bud retired from Commonwealth Edison in 1983, and they moved to Mission Viejo, California and then to Sun City West, Arizona in 1989. Fern and Bud were avid golfers. She was a member of the Pebblebrook Ladies Golf League in Sun City West. She danced with the Jazzercise Club for many years and performed in many talents shows at the Sun City West Sun Dome before it closed. She volunteered in the office at the Lord of Life Lutheran Church in Sun City West. She swam daily at the Rec Center pool and played mahjong up until the very end. She was known by her friends as the Mahjong Queen. Fern was preceded in death by her husband Farnwell "Bud" of 71 years in March of 2016, her two sisters Ethel McNabb and Helen Spellmeyer, and grandson William Allan Nickel. She is survived by her two daughters Cathy Slater, Ronald of Waunakee, WI, Terri Stauffer- Schmidt, Robert of Sun City West, AZ, and Rex Stauffer, Deborah of Winter Haven, FL. A cousin Judy Boyd. Fern has 5 grandchildren, 12 great grandchildren and 3 great-great grandchildren. Services will be held at the Lord of Life Lutheran Church in Sun City West on September 13th, at 11:00 with a luncheon reception following. Memorial gifts to be given to Lord of Life Lutheran Church. To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Fern, please visit our floral store.