Deanna Grace Hinz

1937 - 2023

Deanna Grace Hinz

February 19, 1937-March 1, 2023

FREDERICKSBURG, VA-Deanna Grace Schaper Hinz of Fredericksburg, VA, entered her heavenly life on March 1. She was at home with family when she suddenly and peacefully passed, meeting her Savior, Jesus, face to face.

Born Feb. 19, 1937, in Mason City, Iowa to Gordon Schaper and Evelyn Trayer Schaper, she became older sister to Gary, Ronald and Donald, who all adored her. She was nurtured in her strong and enduring Christian faith at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Mason City. It was also there that she met and fell in love with her future husband, Richard, the son of Rev. Carl and Helen Hinz. Rev. Carl Hinz served Bethlehem as Pastor from 1925 to 1966.

Deanna graduated from the Iowa School of Nursing in Des Moines in 1958, and married Richard at Bethlehem later that summer. They spent the next year in St. Louis at Concordia Seminary, another abroad on Fulbright Scholarship in Heidelberg, Germany, and then nearly six decades living in Delaware, Maryland and Virginia, guided by Richard's pastoral work in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.

Deanna last visited Mason City in May of 2021, where she enjoyed a remembrance tour of Bethlehem church and parsonage, visited her childhood home along 3rd Street NW, and stayed at the Historic Park Inn hotel. She paid respects to those who had gone before and reconnected with hometown friends living in Mason City and Minneapolis-St. Paul on the next leg of her trip.

Her passing is mourned by sons, Paul (Sally) of Saginaw, MI, John (Amy) of Fredericksburg, VA, Timothy (Leanne) of Williamsburg, VA, and Stephen (Elizabeth) of Lexington, KY; by brothers, Gary Schaper (Shirley) of Frisco, TX, Donald Schaper (Carla) of Santa Barbara, CA, and Ronald Schaper (Jane) of Columbia, MO; by 15 grandchildren, five great-grandchildren, and numerous nieces and nephews.

Deanna was preceded in death by her parents, Gordon and Evelyn, her brother-in-law Frederick C. Hinz, and her beloved Richard, who passed in 2018, just three days after their 60th anniversary.

Memorials are appreciated as donations to Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Mason City (bethlcms.org); Redeemer Lutheran Church, Fredericksburg, VA (redeemerfxbg.org); or LCMS World Relief and Human Care (lcms.org/givenow/disaster).

For fuller details of Deanna's life and legacy, or to express condolences, see covenantfuneralservice.com/tributes/Deanna-Hinz. Details concerning visitation and services of celebration and committal can also be found there.