1941
Sharon
2011
Sharon Schaefer
August 13, 1941 — December 5, 2011
Sharon (Saylor) Schaefer, 70, died peacefully December 5, 2011, after a long illness. She was a resident of Bethesda, Maryland.
Sharon (Saylor) Schaefer, daughter of Norman M. Saylor, Jr. and Martha (Lavaun) Saylor, both deceased, was born in Sabetha, Kansas on August 13, 1941. She grew up in Morrill, Kansas, where her father was the president of the Morrill State Bank, and she graduated from Morrill High School in 1959. Sharon graduated from University of Kansas in 1963, with degrees in both English and Secondary Education. While at KU, she met William Goerman Schaefer, "Bill", and they were married in 1963. Sharon lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the Chicago area, where she earned a Masters of Social Work at the University of Chicago. Sharon and Bill’s twins, Kristen and James, were born in Chicago in 1966, and spent many happy summers at the Saylor family home in Morrill.
In 1977, the Schaefers settled in the Washington, DC, area, where Sharon worked in the Department of Child Psychiatry at the Children’s National Medical Center. Sharon conducted research and lectured on neonatal assessment and mother/infant interaction, and trained pediatric residents in child development. She later founded a private group psychiatric practice, and continued training new professionals by supervising post-graduate interns in the practice. Sharon contributed extensively to her community by volunteering her time and expertise to support local charitable causes, and in 2001 she was invited to join the Cosmos Club in Washington, DC. Her love of music enriched her life to the end.
Sharon’s survivors include her husband, Bill, of Bethesda, Maryland; her two children, Kristen Schaefer of Brookline, Massachusetts, and James Schaefer of St. Louis, Missouri, and their spouses, Tad Gallion and Jennifer Owen Schaefer; and her three grandchildren, Emma, Claire, and Nathan. Her infant grandson, William Robert, predeceased her.
Sabetha area survivors include her two brothers, Kent and Kurt Saylor, and their families. A service will be held at the Morrill Cemetery in January.
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