ELIZABETH SCHAFFER

ELIZABETH SCHAFFER Elizabeth Louisa (Hemmert) (Wessel) Schaffer, 91, passed away peacefully Friday March 28, 2025 with family by her side at St. Catherine Hospital of Garden City, Kansas. She was born January 11, 1934 in her grandmother's house South of Angelus in Sheridan County. She grew up on a farm with her parents and her eight siblings. She graduated from Oakley High School in 1952. She took accounting classes at Garden City Community College which she used while working for Saint Mary's Catholic Parish. She married Ambrose Joseph Wessel on June 16, 1952; to this union five children were born, Ambrose passed away September 24, 1966. She later married Otis Schaffer on March 29, 1968, he passed away November 10, 1998. Betty was active with the Senior Center and volunteered within the Garden City community. Betty loved crocheting baby blankets and Barbie furniture for grandchildren and great grandchildren. She loved her "sisters' week!" Betty and her sisters went to Cold Water Lake for a week of camping, fishing, cooking and game playing. Betty was a very competitive game player! Hand in hand with card games Betty loved Bingo! She hardly ever missed her Bingo night! Betty loved her cats and instilled a love of kitties upon her children. Her family will miss and forever remember sharing Christmas Eve at her home every year. She hosted dinner, made pie and opened gifts with her family for the holiday. Survivors include her children-Diane and Robert Staats of Garden City, Cathy Mattingly of Haven, Karen Wessel, Rick Wessel both of the home, and Charles Wessel and Karen Freeman of Monument, Colorado; grandchildren-Nathalie and Jonathan Higerd, Crystal and Scott Blanton, Alicia Staats and Tim Murry, Vanessa Staats, Leah and James Kozak, Susan Mattingly, Kristen Wessel, and Matthew Wessel; great-grandchildren-Wyatt, Veronica, Yvette, Jesse, Cameron, Evelyn, Quinten, Hunter, Holly, Emberlynn, and Roger; siblings-Dorothy Malsom, Fred L. Hemmert, Mary Jay, Jean Heier, Martha Robinson, Kay Kempton, and Jimmy Hemmert along with a host of nieces, nephews and other extended family. She is preceded in death by her parents-Frederick William and Edith Mae (Johann) Hemmert, husbands-Ambrose Joseph Wessel and Otis Schaffer, a brother-Robert Hemmert, and two granddaughters-Amber Staats and Amanda Staats. Visitation will take place on Friday April 4, 2025 from 10:00 am until 5:00 pm at Garnand Funeral Home of Garden City. Vigil Services will be held at 7:00 pm Friday April 4, 2025 and Funeral Mass will be held at 11:00 am Saturday April 5, 2025 both at St. Dominic Catholic Church of Garden City. Burial will follow immediately in Valley View Cemetery. The family suggests memorials to the Elizabeth Schaffer Memorial Fund in care of Garnand Funeral Home.