Marilyn Theresa Schafer

August 2, 1939 - April 30, 2023 Marilyn was born and lived her formative years in San Francisco excelling in the classroom, playing piano and earning a junior lifeguard swimming certificate.
She graduated from Presentation High School in 1957 and then spent the next 29 years as a member of the Sister's of St. Joseph of Carondelet teaching in several Northern and Southern California primary and secondary schools.
She earned one Bachelor degree (History) and two Master's degrees (Theology; Counseling Psychology) during the years when she was the student and not the teacher.
She also spent a year at the Center for Bilingual Multicultural Studies in Cuernavaca, Mexico.
Her final assignment with the CSJ's was the Coordinator for Social Justice Secretariat
From 1981-1984 she was the Director of the Interfaith Hunger Coalition: a project of the Southern California Ecumenical Counsel.
Marilyn then worked in the LA Unified School District as a Teacher and /or Counselor at Evans Adult School in downtown LA until the age of 70 working with a wide variety of international students.
She was one of three Teachers Union shop stewards at Evans and when the school administration threatened to close the school Marilyn and others led a successful rebuttal of the proposal and the school remains open today.
She was also co-founder and director of LISTO, a Latino workers' job referral cooperative in Southern California.
She was part of a group who received a grant and produced a video on "Domestic Violence and the ESL Student ".
More than anything Marilyn plowed her way through each passion and challenge with grace and dignity. Her quiet but determined demeanor was her standard when facing some of societies greatest inequalities.
She was bilingual and traveled to several Central American countries as well as Ireland, England, Thailand and China.
A sports fan from an early age, Marilyn was also a student of the Triangle Offense used by the Lakers for many years.
Marilyn was preceded in death by her parents: Charles E. Schafer and Mary V. Schafer, grand niece Naomi Neff. She is survived by her brothers Paul Schafer (Neice) in Spokane, WA and Charles L. Schafer (Suzie) in San Mateo, CA and five nieces and nephews. and ten grand-nephews / nieces.
Private family services will be held in the Spokane, Washington and the San Francisco Bay Area in the near future.