Caroline Tibbitts Schaefer

1922 - 2023

Caroline Tibbitts Schaefer
May 29, 1922 - April 29, 2023
Sacramento, California - Caroline T. Schaefer (née Caroline Marion Tibbitts) was born in Alameda, California, on May 29, 1922, the eldest of the three children of Walter F.C. Tibbitts and Marion G. Tibbitts. She attended grammar school through high school in Alameda, graduating in June 1939 from Alameda High. She attended Alameda Junior College, and when the war started she went to work at the Alameda Naval Air Station. Through a co-worker she met Edward T. Schaefer at a dinner. They fell in love and married in August 1942. As so many of his generation did, Ed enlisted in the Army that summer. After completing basic training in California, the two of them drove Caroline's 1938 Packard - with a manual transmission, no air conditioning and no cruise control - across the country to Camp Gordon Johnston outside Apalachicola, Florida. Her father had told her as a teenager that she could drive only when she had learned how to change a flat tire. She was 20 and he was 22 on that trip. In Florida, Ed met the other two officers of the Army tugboat with whom he would be stationed in Europe; together they learned tugboat operations. Bonds forged in wartime create enduring friendships, and so it was here, as Caroline kept in touch with them over the next sixty or seventy years, literally for the rest of their lives. Following training in Florida they drove north to New York City for additional tugboat training, this time in Brooklyn Harbor. Caroline got a job at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, in the secretarial pool - as she told us, because she knew how to type: fast, and without errors. Following training in New York they headed back to California via "the northern route". A second trip to Florida followed in mid- 1943, this time cross-country by train. Upon completing training they drove with another military family in his car from Florida back once again to New York. In North Carolina the car got a flat tire, and no one, it seems, knew how to change a flat tire - except Caroline. She related this story to us years later with a twinkle in her eye and much satisfaction. The men left Brooklyn for Europe by troop ship in late 1943, and Caroline, 21, took the train back to California. Following the war they lived in Alameda, Berkeley and then Sacramento. They did their part for the baby boom, and between 1946 and 1964 their eight children (Thomas, James, Paul, Melissa, Peter, Gabrielle, Mark and Karen) were born. After her divorce in 1969, as a single mom to 6 kids still living at home, Caroline went to work at CSU Sacramento, first in the Sociology Department and then in the Music Department, once again on the administrative staff, and once again because she could type well. She could be found typing late into the evening after her workday for students who paid her .10 cents a page to type their theses! She was a very frugal person and although money was tight, she always found a way to save up to provide extra-curricular activities, buying a pool table, a ski boat, a sailboat, and her cherished canoe. She also helped with horseback riding lessons, music lessons, and ballet lessons for her kids and grands. She taught us the love of great card games, word games, reading and grammar! There were many corrections to be dealt! She spoiled us with homemade bread, pasta, canned veggies and homemade jams throughout our life! Her dinner rolls were legendary! She had every imaginable fruit tree in her yard. Her job at Sac State allowed her the whole summer off, and she looked forward to spending as much time as she could to enjoy the summer at the family cabin near Tahoe, packing up the grocery bags weeks in advance in anticipation of her time away in the woods. Her mother Marion, and her Grandfather Tibbitts had given her this love of the outdoors, as she shared with us that her Grandfather told her many times, how important it was for the opportunity to see and be part of the wilderness. This strength carried her through so much. When the 6 younger ones were little, she would tell us she had "Bands of Steel" in regards to her physical and mental strength, we could never get away with much! In 1990 she joined the Sacramento Choral Society to sing because as she told us, "I could read music" and was one of the founding members. That began a 20-plus year activity that kept her engaged and socially active throughout her retirement, and it included journeys to perform in Britain, Vienna, Prague, China, and Carnegie Hall. Her final trip was in 2015, to sing at Notre Dame in Paris and St. Paul's in London, all with the Sacramento Choral Society under the direction of Donald Kendrick, who along with choir director James McCormick became her two "adopted" Canadian sons, whom she loved dearly. She lived on her own until she was 99 and drove until she was 97, and yes, it was a manual transmission, even in those later years. In 2020, as Covid lockdowns limited everything and everyone, living alone was very difficult, and she moved in with family for a year. In 2021 she entered a care facility, where she made a mark on the community with her bright cheerfulness and spirit. She was surrounded by others who, as part of the Greatest Generation, seemed to have figured out life, and how to do it well. She turned 100 in 2022, the first of her family ever to do so, with a large crowd of family and friends to celebrate with her. She
passed from this earth April 29, 2023, exactly one month shy of 101, and she died peacefully in her sleep. She was predeceased by her husband, and her son Peter, and by her brother Walter, his wife Beverly and their son Curt. She is survived by her other seven children, Thomas (Lynn), James (Margaret), Paul (Kathy), Melissa, Gabrielle (Mark), Mark (Jackie) and Karen, by her grandchildren, Tiffiny, Christopher, Sienna, Timothy, Joshua, Kelsey, Brielle, Clinton, Linnea, James: by her sister, Deborah Watson, and many nieces and nephews, as well as ten great grandchildren. The family asks for any donations to go to the Sacramento Choral Society, which gave her so much pleasure and so many enduring friendships in her later years, or to a charity of your choice. Please remember to always laugh and sing, and keep looking forward, as Caroline would want us to celebrate life with love and cheer in our hearts. We will hold a celebration of life in her honor later this year to remember all that she gave us, and to give thanks for all the time we had together. We love you Caroline! See online version available on The Sacramento Bee website.