Obituaries

Elizabeth M. Schaefer, 71

April 01, 2022

Elizabeth Meg Schaefer, daughter of Ernst Milton Schaefer, Sr, and Georgianna Gregson Schaefer, died on April 1, 2022, after a brief illness. She is survived by her sister, Jan Schaefer; and by her brother, Ernst M. Schaefer, Jr, and his son, Julian Schaefer; and by stepbrothers, Thomas, Daniel, and Roger Droz and their respective wives, Alina, Teresa, and Marilyn and numerous step-nieces and nephews.

After receiving her BA from Millersville University and MA in History from University College Dublin, Meg pursued a forty-three-year career as Curator at Wright’s Ferry Mansion, an eighteenth- century house museum in Columbia, PA. Passionate in her love of the decorative arts, history, and personalities of that period, she authored two books on Wright’s Ferry Mansion.

Meg was chrismated an Orthodox Christian in 1997 and attended both Annunciation and Transfiguration Orthodox Churches in Lancaster, PA. Her spirit of adventure took her on pilgrimages to ancient holy sites in Ireland, Scotland, Israel, and Egypt, where she found the deepest of friendships with people from around the world.

With intellectual curiosity, she pursued a wide range of interests from opera to jazz, from ancient art to the most contemporary, from cooking to fashion, from gardens to birding and nature. She had a rare sensitivity to the beauty in people and in objects. Warm and generous, loyal and dedicated, spiritual in heart and soul, Elizabeth Meg Schaefer was an exceptional human being. We will forever miss her.

Family will receive friends Wednesday April 6, 2022 from 2pm-4pm at Charles F. Snyder Funeral Home, 3110 Lititz Pike, Lititz, PA. Funeral services will be held Thursday, April 7, 2022 at 11 AM at Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church, 64 Hershey Ave., Lancaster, PA with Rev. Hector Firoglanis and Rev. Alexander Goussetis officiating. A viewing will be held from 10am-11am at the church. Burial to follow at Conestoga Memorial Park.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Meg’s memory to the Susquehanna Waldorf School, 15 W Walnut St #1308, Marietta, PA 17547.

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Condolences to the Family

April 22, 2022

I came to know Meg as Executive Director of Historic Rock Ford while she served as Director of Wright’s Ferry Mansion. She was a great historian and scholar, a great museum director and a great lady.  I will miss knowing and working with her, and send my deepest condolences to her family. 

April 18, 2022

Oh Jan, I’m so sorry for the loss of your beloved sister, Meg.  You and I were in the same class at McCaskey and had mutual interests in art.  I’m sure the world isn’t quite as sweet without her.  I always admired and loved you both.  

April 14, 2022

Dear Family of Meg’s – I went to McCaskey with Meg and remember her as a quiet,  confident person. If I recall properly, we sang together in Glee Club.  I always admired Meg’s style. Meg became a fine woman who shared her love of history and love of Christ to others. May God grant you peace and comfort during this time. Sincerely, Nancy Banzhof Marshall

April 12, 2022

In June, 2017, on my way to the Friends of Iona Pilgrimage to places important to St. Patrick and some other early Irish saints, I was in Dublin with the organizer of the pilgrimage, Bruce Clark. Knowing that I planned to attend Divine Liturgy at the Russian church the following Sunday, Bruce said that Meg and Jan Schaefer would be there too and I ought to meet them.
 
I responded by saying “You haven’t given me a description; how am I going to know them?”
 
“You will,” he smiled.  And I did. From the moment we met we had an amazing oneness of spirit and a meeting of minds and hearts that ignored the fact of our living so far from one another.  After the pilgrimage, we three spoke with one another by phone every Sunday night and it was during those wonderful exchanges. where our many interests collided. that I came to know Meg as the delightful and profound person she is.
 
The depth of our common bond as Orthodox Christians was the basis of our friendship and our constant exchanges about the faith were enriched by books we shared. A few months ago, I was surprised by a number of Unbirthday gifts from the sisters, which included the two volumes of Nick Constas’ translations of Maximos the Confessor’s On Difficulties in the Church Fathers: The Ambigua. In the days of Meg’s passing, Jan wanted me to know that Meg had picked them out, knowing how special that last gift would be to me. Later Jan said that Meg had another gift she had forgotten to send,
 
“When did she find it?” I asked, knowing that the flurry and flow of life, to say nothing of their moving house, and Meg’s illness, could have postponed the sending indefinitely.
 
Jan laughed. “Five years ago, when we were in London.”
 
We shared our gardening adventures, especially Meg’s discovery of an Italian seed company, their successes and my failures in persuading the seeds to germinate. We giggled over Cyril the spider, commiserated over Steed the cat’s sudden demise, ameliorated by the vision of his near lift-off into flight up the stairs, his front paws entangled in Jan’s huge butterfly kite.
 
Although we had lots of conversations about Wright’s Ferry Mansion and Susanna Wright, so unaccountably overlooked by historians, it wasn’t until I visited that I fully understood the magnificence of Meg’s achievements there. It was Fall, and the initial experience of the house was perfumed by bowls of apples and gorgeous chrysanthemums, leaving one with the impression of a house still lived in by a woman of elegance, simplicity, and good taste. Meg’s precision and devotion to accuracy was no abstract pickiness, but a desire to reveal the truth of things, to clarify history by refusing to simply dress contemporary ways of doing, thinking, and being in historical costume. The library and the archives offer resources for scholars who, one hopes, will come to extend our knowledge of Susanna Wright’s life and accomplishments, a life we would have little opportunity to appreciate without the forty-three years of Meg’s devoted love, service and expertise.
 
The two-volume set of books on the Mansion, so beautifully written and produced by Meg, anchor the house and its collection in a way that ought to insure their being appreciated for the ages. They celebrate the sophistication and refinement of the Quaker contribution to early American life, and to the development of Pennsylvania, that Susanna’s life and home celebrate.
 
Actually being in the Garden House, after living through its construction, watching the profusion of bluebirds, yellow finches, downy woodpeckers, and all their feathered friends gather for the incredible feasts prepared for them on the deck of that magical little house, incarnated all the descriptions I had to visualize during the months of Meg’s declining health. The joy those birds provided, along with the racoons who peered through the glass doors at the sisters, under cover of darkness, were gifts the sisters never tired of experiencing.
 
So many pieces of furniture, books, curious items, teas and other favorite Garden House treats bear witness to Meg’s love of beauty and the unique, but the utterly useless life-sized black-faced sheep, covered in real fleece, is my favorite of her impish fancies. It stands guard over the boxes and boxes of papers, fruit of years of research, gathered in preparation for the books she was to write on Susanna Wright and Richard Von Hess. 
 
Coming to know her brother, Ernie, Liz Dillon, her assistant at the Mansion, and so many of her friends from the churches, has filled in with stories so much more of Meg’s life and character that she was too modest to mention. If her passing seems a loss initially, the truth is that she remains with us in eternal memory, a knowing far surpassing the partial glimpses her life in time has provided.

April 11, 2022

My sincere condolences to Jan and Family. I am so grateful to have gotten to know Meg. It was an honor and a pleasure to care for her. I always looked forward to our visits. May her memory be eternal.
 

April 09, 2022

Jan & Earnie,
I just learned of Meg’s passing and I am deeply saddened by the news. I know that she was a kind and loving person and also loved by all that knew her. You have my most sincere heartfelt sympathy and in time the pain of loss will be replaced with loving memories of her. RIP dear Meg. Bill Klein

April 09, 2022

Gather Ye Rosebuds whilst Ye may..Meg certainly did….!The beautiful pageantry of our lives is diminished by her absence.                                                                   She enriched my life, greatly and I give thanks and praise for that.
Peace & Blessings to the Schaefer Family
Robert Langmuir
 
 

April 06, 2022

I’m saddened to hear this I’ll never forget  Meghan always a pleasant person 
may her memory be eternal from Kathy papadimitriou

April 06, 2022

Ernie and Jan,
I was so sorry and shocked to read of Meg’s passing. During my 8 years of working alongside your mother on East King Street, I remember Meg as a very elegant young woman, with beautiful long dark hair, who spoke softly and would occasionally drop in to say hello. I’m so sorry for your loss!

April 06, 2022

May her memory be eternal.

April 06, 2022

I am so sorry to hear this. Meg was a lovely human being. She will be missed.

April 06, 2022

Dear Ernie and Jan,
I am so sorry for your loss! I so enjoyed meeting the three of you — your sibling love and respect was readily apparent and remarkable to me. You are in my thoughts and prayers. May God bring you peace and warm reflection during this difficult time, and may Meg’s memory be eternal!

April 05, 2022

Dear Jan & Ernie  – I am so crushed to hear of Meg’s passing. I remember her way back in the sixties when you all lived together with the numerous cats & antiques. This was when I was around 11 or 12 years old. I remember her in youth during Mr. Hearst French 10 grade class when she wore beautiful scarfs interwoven with her long hair. She always struct me as elegant and light hearted and with a kind & generous heart.
   Jan, please call me when all the stress of this loss is partly resolved. Grieving a sibling is such a major endeavor. In Chris”s LOVE, Jeff Conrad   

April 05, 2022

Jan, I first met you and Meg upon your return from your studies in Ireland. I’m so sorry for your loss. Meg was an important part of the fabric of the Wright House. I always looked forward to hearing about her exciting, meticulously-selected new acquisitions for the collection at the Wright House. If anyone embodied the spirit of Susanna Wright, it was Meg. She will be missed by many people, including me.  Vernon Gunnion

April 04, 2022

Meg Schaefer was a kind and gentle soul with an adventuresome spirit who pursued her many interests with an elegance all her own. We loved her.

April 04, 2022

I spent only a shared week on pilgrimage in Ireland with Meg and Jan, in the flesh, but came away with a sense of her free Spirit in Christ, and her loveliness. Over the intervening years of praying for her, and with her for others, via the linking correspondence of Pat, I have come to know her courage, grace and giftings more. I guess this is what unity in the Spirit, in Christ does.  Her legacy will live on, to God’s glory, and now I pray for grace for all of us to persevere to live with such commitment to life and the Cross, to the Glory of God, as she did.

April 04, 2022

I am deeply saddened to hear of Meg’s passing, she was such a loving, gentle, kind person who will be dearly missed.  I will always and forever have loving memories in my heart when I think of both Meg and Jan.  Meg’s passing is totally unexpected but God has a plan and he always has reasons.  She will be a beautiful addition to heaven as one of his Angels i’m sure.  Sending prayers and love to family, We will miss you Meg but we are happy you can be in Heaven with our Father.  Much Love.
 

April 03, 2022

Sorry  to hear about your loss she is going to  be miss rest in peace

April 03, 2022

Meg, a person of deep faith, exuded much kindness, intelligence and curiosity. She and Jan invariably lifted my spirits when I would see them together. They cared for one another and made it clear in their everyday life that they sought to make this world a better one for so many. We are fortunate and blessed to have such good people in our community. Meg will be missed, but her memory will remain eternal. Nik and Diana Zervanos

April 03, 2022

Meg was my personal angel, the voice of God in my time of need.  She was my beloved friend, my mentor, my inspiration. What a blessing to have spent so many extraordinary times with her.  We once agreed, early on in our acquaintance, that we were that most truly rare of things … kindred spirits and sisters. Meg’s unwavering faith and love of Christ, her humility, her gentleness, her love for all creation were amazing. The joy she brought to countless visitors to Wright’s Ferry Mansion is a tribute to her life’s work with The Von Hess Foundation. But Meg was so much more … she loved butterflies, birds, gardens, felines, books, music, fine dining, and quiet time with family and friends.  She was gentle and boundlessly thoughtful!  She spoke French to squirrels on the roof at Wright’s Ferry Mansion, politlely, but forcefully asking them to leave.  Meg promptly and carefully escorted insects out of doors and cars, not wishing to harm a scintilla of their antennae or 6 legs. She encouraged Reggie, her former beloved cat, in his pursuit of painting …. yes, painting. She was truly otherworldly.  She was an extraordinaire! She soars now with angels in God’s beautiful Paradise, waiting for all of us. I love you Meg! Memory is Eternal! Blessings and Christ’s comfort to dear Jan, Ern, and Julian.  Love in Christ, Cindy

April 03, 2022

Meg was an amazing scholar and curator…someone passionate about research…her enthusiasm for new facets to a particular historic narrative was always infectious…history was made exciting and engaging through her personal tutorials, where she would lean towards you at different moments to reveal a newly discovered connection between two historic figures or a previously unrecognized relationship among a group of decorative objects or furniture – she did so as if she was sharing a most important state secret, and I was honored to share in each and every reveal…Rest in Peace, dear Meg…

Visitation
Wednesday, April 06, 2022
2:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Charles F. Snyder Funeral Home & Crematory
3110 Lititz Pike
Lititz, PA 17543
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Thursday, April 07, 2022
11:00 AM
Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church
64 Hershey Ave.
Lancaster, PA 17603
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