Elizabeth Bower Schumacher

Elizabeth Bower Schumacher Memorial services for Elizabeth Bower Schumacher, 84, will be held at 2 p.m. Monday, April 28, at Immanuel Lutheran Church, East Dundee, with the Rev. William Yonker officiating. Burial will be in Dundee Township East Cemetery. Visitation will be from 12 noon until the time of services in the church. She died peacefully of natural causes March 27, 2008, at home surrounded by her husband and four children. She was born Aug. 6, 1923, in Chicago, the daughter of Dr. George Crosier Bower and Dorothy Helen Smith Bower, the first of three children including Crosiar George and Mary Martha. She grew up in Galesburg, Ill. Betty was a member of the Delta Delta Delta sorority while attending the University of Minnesota and Knox College in Galesburg. She was married to Howard Harry Keller in 1944, by her grandfather, the Rev. Charles Frederick Smith. Betty and Howard moved to San Carlos, Calif., while Howard flew in the Pacific for the U.S. Air Transport Command during World War II. After the war, they purchased an airplane and alongside Howard, she learned how to fly while he earned the required flight hours to become an airline pilot with United Airlines. They moved to beautiful Dundee, Ill., where they began raising their family of four beloved children, John Frederick, Thomas Craig, Katherine Elizabeth and Hollister Ann. Betty was a devoted mother and wife, saying of her family that we should always be forward thinking. In 1962, the family moved to Franklin Lakes, N.J., where Betty created yet another wonderful environment full of love and learning. Her home was always open to everyone, as was she. Dinner time was always full of lively conversation. She was active in her community and was admired by her friends and family. In the mid-1970s she was a real estate agent for a firm in Ridgewood, N.J. In 1977, Betty moved to Deland, Fla., to be near her parents. There, she worked for Roseborough Travel Agency. Having been raised in a family who enjoyed world-wide travels and having given this opportunity to her children as well, she continued to enjoy her travels, including Australia, Singapore, China and Kenya. She also served as a Tri-Delt sorority mother at Stetson University in Deland. In 1982, Betty married Carl Hoelzer and they enjoyed five years together in their home at New Smyrna Beach, Fla., before his passing in 1987. In 1993, Betty married her loving and devoted husband, Ronald E. Schumacher of Elgin, Ill. They enjoyed living both in her New Smyrna Beach condo overlooking the intra-coastal waterway during the winter months and Ron's wooded home in Elgin during the summer months. They were members of the New Smyrna Yacht Club and Elgin Country Club, where they enjoyed many wonderful friends. Betty was an avid reader and enjoyed great conversation and challenging thought. She was a loving friend to many and a great support to her parents, siblings, children and grandchildren. Having touched our lives and our hearts in immeasurable ways, she is survived by her husband, Ronald E. Schumacher of Elgin; brother and his wife, Dr. George and Virginia Bower of Grosse Point Farms, Mich.; sister and her husband, Martha and Erwin Johnson of Tucson, Ariz.; and five nieces and nephews. She is also survived by her children, John Keller and his fiancee, Beverly Gillette of Cambridge, Mass., Thomas Keller and his companion, Ciana Tierney of Menlo Park. Calif., Katherine and James Clark of Vancouver, Wash., and Hollister Bernstein and her fiance, Bruce Weber of Virginia Beach, Va.; as well as her ex-daughters-in-Iaw, Lanna McPherson Keller of Santa Fe, N.M., and Alice Kleeman of Redwood City, Calif.; ex-son-in-Iaw, Robert Bernstein of Fresno, Calif.; three stepchildren and nine stepgrandchildren. She is also survived by her grandchildren, Alexa Kleeman-Keller Eaton, Nicholas Kleeman-Keller, Georgia Tess Kleeman-Keller, Samuel Keller Bernstein, Aaron Jacob Bernstein, Wesley McAlexander Clark and Mackenzie Crosiar Clark. Additional surviving family members are stepchildren, Susan Schumacher and her three sons, Brett, Brian and Branden Koppen, and Robert J. (Jane) Schumacher of Maui, Hawaii and his two sons, Matthew and Mark and William (Karen) Schumacher. During her marriage to Ronald E. Schumacher she was preceded in death by a stepson, James Schumacher (his daughter Leslie Schumacher survives) and a stepdaughter, Jane Schumacher Hawkins (her husband James (Kathleen) Hawkins and their children, Jeremy, Jennifer and Jaclyn survive). He also is survived. by a brother-in-law, Robert W. (Lorraine) Schumacher of New Smyrna Beach. A self-described peaceable person, Betty enjoyed the wonders of all things bright and beautiful, great literature, wonderful stories, and her treasured relationships with all she came to know and love. Endowed with a truly bright spirit and intellect, she was a wonderful conversationalist, daughter, sister, wife, mother, grandmother, and friend. Her beautiful legacy of spirit will live on in all of us. May her memory be forever a blessing. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be given to Immanuel Lutheran Church, the American Lung Association or to a charity of one's choice. Laird Funeral Home, Elgin, 847-741-8800. is in charge of arrangements.