Sister Mary Ida Schaffer, born July 13, 1924, was baptized “Mary Rita” at St. Brendan Church, Youngstown, Ohio one week later. The eighth of the eleven children of John and Dina (Schoeppner) Schaffer, she helped care for the younger children according to her sister, Sister Rose Schaffer. Sister Mary Ida is survived by her brother, Henry of Poland, Ohio and two sisters, Hilda Bowser of League City, Texas and Sister Rose [formerly Sister Mary Aquinas] of Villa Maria, Pennsylvania. She was preceded in death by four brothers, Joseph, William, Fred and Edward and three sisters, Clara Keevey, Florence Schaffer and Veronica Schaffer.
The stories of her early years and life in the Schaffer family constitute the “Spring” of Sister Mary Ida’s life, as her long-time friend Sister Judy Dohner reflected at the funeral Mass. “Those are the stories for them to tell,” she said.
Sister Mary Ida graduated in 1942 from Chaney High School and on September 8 of that year entered the Humility of Mary Community. And so began what Sister Judy called the “Summer” of Sister Mary Ida’s life in which she showed her great love for the HM Community.
On July 17, 1943 she became a novice and was given her religious name, Sister Mary Ida. She made first vows two years later and perpetual vows in 1948. In July of 1949 she completed the registered nursing program at St. Elizabeth Hospital School of Nursing in Youngstown and was assigned as a supervisor at St. Elizabeth Hospital. She graduated cum laude with her BSN from St. Louis University, St. Louis, Missouri in 1958 and earned her MSN in 1964 from Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland.
For 38 years Sister Mary Ida dedicated her life to health care ministry serving at St. Elizabeth’s and also at St. Joseph Hospital & Health Center, Lorain. She was a program coordinator with St. Elizabeth’s School of Nursing and also served on the Board of Trustees of St. Joseph Riverside Hospital, Warren. Her HM Community elected her to congregational leadership in 1967 to serve on the major superior’s council for six years. Sister Judy observed that Sister Mary Ida’s legacy from this season of her life is her witness to the HM charism of bringing more abundant life.
The “Autumn” of Sister Mary Ida’s life, Sister Judy continued, began with her decision to move into health care administration and to carry new responsibilities. She served as associate executive director in Lorain and then became vice-president of the St. Joseph Hospital Foundation in Lorain. In 1992 Sister Mary Ida entered into a new area of ministry as she began 11 years as president and CEO of Villa Maria Residential Services and director of the Villa Maria Apartments [for senior adults] in Villa Maria, Pennsylvania. The legacy Sister Mary Ida offers from this season of her life, as Sister Judy reflects, “is the gift of time and beauty especially the beauty of nature; the invitation to take time for relationships, for hospitality.”
In the “Winter” of her life, the time of her declining health, Sister Mary Ida’s life comes full circle. The great love of God for her which brought her to religious life and sustained her throughout her life enabled her to leave yet another legacy, that of learning to let go, to wait and to allow others to minister to her. She enjoyed the beauty of nature around her and tended to the plants in the greenhouse. She organized the Haiti Room and encouraged the involvement of others gathering and sending supplies. And she waited, ready for God who called her to eternal life early Sunday morning, December 6. She was ready.
Sister Judy summed up the full legacy of the life of Sister Mary Ida Schaffer as that of mentor and teacher. “She invites us to give ourselves away in service and love that they may have abundant life.”
Contributions in memory of Sister Mary Ida Schaffer may be forwarded to the Sisters of the Humility of Mary, Development Office, PO Box 534, Villa Maria PA 16155.
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