Sister John Baptist Schafer

Sister John Baptist Schafer, 94, of Grand Rapids and formerly of Beal City passed away Sunday, Oct. 8, 2006 at the Health Center on Marywood Campus in Grand Rapids. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 4:15 p.m. Wednesday Oct. 11, at the Dominican Chapel on Marywood. She will lie in-state beginning at 3 p.m. Tuesday at the chapel concluding with a remembrance service at 7 p.m. She was born Leona Anna Schafer, Dec. 31, 1911, in Beal City, the daughter of Andrew and Mary (Kremsreiter) Schafer. Leona entered the Dominican Order for sisters in Grand Rapids in the late 1920s, choosing the name John Baptist. She is survived by three sisters-in-law, Irene Schafer, Florence Schafer, both of Beal City and Flaurine Schafer of Toledo, OH; and numerous nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents; four sisters, Catherine Schafer, Sister Madeline Sophie Schafer, Rose Fox, and Ida Fussman; and five brothers, Joe, Frank, Harold, Leo, and Louis Schafer.