Ella Schafer, Wessington Springs

Ella Schafer, 92, Wessington Springs, died Sunday, Nov. 25, 2012, at Weskota Manor, Wessington Springs.

She was born on Dec. 7, 1919.

Funeral services will be at 11 a.m. Wednesday at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church, Wessington Springs. Burial will be in Prospect Hill Cemetery, Wessington Springs.

Visitation will be from 5 to 8 p.m. today at the church with a 7 p.m. prayer service.

Arrangements are under the direction of Will Funeral Chapel, Mitchell.

Ella Schafer, daughter of Christian and Martha (Wolter) Schafer, was born in Lane.

She grew up on the family farm in rural Wessington Springs and attended Barber Country School.

Ella attended high school in Lane for a year, and then a few years later attended high school in Wessington Springs.

She then graduated from Augustana Academy in Canton. Ella also studied at Lutheran Bible Institute and Augsburg College in Minneapolis.

After obtaining similar educational backgrounds, including nursing training from the Lutheran Deaconess School of Nursing in Minneapolis, both Ella and her sister, Doris, chose to serve as overseas missionaries. She served in a dispensary in India for five years.

Ella moved back to Minneapolis in 1957 and nursed for 19 years there. In 1977, she moved back to Wessington Springs to take care of her mother.

Ella became a resident at Aurora Brule Nursing Home in White Lake, and in 2008 moved to Weskota Manor in Wessington Springs.

Ella was a former member of Free Methodist Church in Wessington Springs and a current member of Immanuel Baptist Church in Wessington Springs.

In her spare time, Ella enjoyed painting, quilting, sewing and collecting stamps and spoons.

Survivors include her sister, Doris Schafer, Wessington Springs; two brothers: Harold Schafer, Longmont, Colo.; and Glen (Betty) Schafer, Wessington Springs; eight nieces and nephews; and 10 great-nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her parents and a sister-in-law, Vera Schafer.

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