Charlotte Ann (Stacey) Schaffert

Our beloved mom, grandma, great grandmother, sister, aunt, and friend to so many, passed away, peacefully, in her home surrounded by the love of her family. Born in Lansing, Michigan to Violet and Tom Stacey, the first of five Stacey children, Char was a beautifully photogenic baby such that Vi and Tom received awards for photos of her as an infant. Those beautiful traits became inherent to her nature as the years passed.

The family moved to Walker, Minnesota, when Char was two years old. There they lived an active outdoor life until she was four years old. The family then moved to Weeping Water, Nebraska. She attended and graduated from Weeping Water High School in 1952. Char was very involved with the Weeping Water Congregational Church and its youth activities and also served as Worthy Advisor with the Rainbow Girls while in high school. Not one to watch from the sidelines, Char participated in many clubs, pep squads and sports teams including volleyball, softball, track, and basketball. These pursuits contributed to her love of watching her favorite sports teams on tv through her adult years.

Char attended the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, but soon found herself drawn to the Chicago area where she worked as a flight attendant for Capitol Airlines. She married Ensign Richard Schaffert on May 20, 1956. This began the exciting, arduous, and challenging career and life as the wife of a naval aviator. Her “duty stations” over the next 20 years included Texas, Cuba, Virginia, Florida, California, Virginia, and Missouri.

Her four children soon followed and became her life, Richard (1957), Stacey (1958), Michael (1959), and Jim (1960). She was devoted to their happiness, well-being, and making sure they all had a good sense of humor. By the time her eldest son, Rich, graduated high school, her family had move 15 times.

With her Navy husband away from home much of the time, Char was and is the foundation that held and keeps her family and extended family together. Her children will always think of her as the rock they leaned on to get them through their childhood and teenage years. She was always there for her children and did an incredible job of raising them to be caring and thoughtful, as she was her whole life.

With her marriage ending in divorce in 1983, Char began the next chapter of her life working in positions that served others in nursing homes and hospitals in Missouri, Arizona, and Virginia, as well as, in a variety of Hallmark stores through the years. She rarely missed celebrating special occasions and holidays for family and friends and her confetti stuffed cards will be missed by us all. A voracious reader, skilled crewel needle pointer, an ardent San Antonio Spurs and University of Nebraska fan, a lover of sweets and Peanuts characters, a rescue dog’s best friend having given loving homes to several dogs over the decades, a puzzler and “Scrabbler”, a holiday decorating enthusiast, and who loved having a vase of fresh flowers in her home whenever she could, Charlotte lived a life of many interests and activities, but none more so than her children and their children and their children’s children.

Her greatest joy was being a grandmother. In 1985, Char moved to Michigan to be near her son Mike’s two children. Kate and Ben Stacey. In 1988, she moved to Alaska to be with her eldest grandson, Stacey’s son, Mike Street. Grandma Char was always giving of her time to her three grandchildren. When she was with them we witnessed the same love, patience, and understanding that she gave to her own children for so long.

Char moved from Texas to Colorado after the passing of her son, Jim, in 2011, where she lived with her daughter, Stacey, and husband the remaining years of her life. Due to the pandemic, trips to family over the months had to be cancelled, but granddaughter Kate Stacey’s love for her grandma got her and baby Elliot on a plane and Charlotte was able to see her great grandson, Elliot, for the first time in person, four days before she passed. That is the commitment to family that she taught her children and they taught their children.

Days before her passing, surrounded by the love of family members from 8 months old to 70 years plus, Charlotte whispered, “This is the best!”

We say back to our beloved mom, grandma, great grandmother, sister, aunt and friend, “You are the best!”

Charlotte is survived by her children, Richard (Barb) Schaffert, Mike Stacey, and Stacey (Jim) Street; siblings, Heather (Keith) Ware and Mike (Kaye) Stacey; grandchildren, Mike (Sara) Street, Kate (Brian) Stacey, and Ben Stacey; great grandchildren, Arthur and Elliot Way-Stacey, Brianna Malinao Stacey ; nephews Mark, Eric and Jeff Stacey, Graham and Kip Ware, and Charlie Stacey; nieces Heidi (Ryan) Porter, Steff (Eric) Runquist, and Kristina (Alex) Fisk; sister- in-law, Judy Stacey; and several great nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her youngest son, Jim Schaffert; parents, Violet and Edgar Thomas Stacey; brothers Sid and Chuck Stacey; nephew, Tom Stacey; and aunts, Hildur Dye and Hodie Nordlund.

A celebration of Charlotte Ann (Stacey) Schaffert’s life will be held at a later date due to the pandemic when family and friends can gather safely. Memorial contributions can be made in her name to an organization that Char supported for several years, Oldies But Goodies, a cocker spaniel rescue group at: https://cockerspanielrescue.com 

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