Mary L. (Bair) Schafer Clayton, age 97, of Findlay, went to be with Jesus, at 10:30 p.m. on Thursday, August 23, 2018 at the Taylor House in Findlay.
She was born as the only child to Harry E. and Bernice (Powell) Bair in Findlay, Ohio on January 22, 1921.
Mary had been a member Trinity EUB Church in Mt. Cory, St. Pauls Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jenera and currently of the First Lutheran Church in Findlay where she was a member of the Martha Circle. She earned her Bachelors Degree and later her Masters Degree from Bowling Green State University in 1969. She retired as a teacher having taught at Vaughnsville, Arlington, and Findlay High School and at Bluffton University. She and her husband, Eldon Schafer owned and operated the Lima Avenue Produce from 1973 to 1984. She was proud to have obtained her solo pilots license. She was instrumental in returning competitive girls basketball to Hancock County in the 1960s. She played on the county championship team at Liberty in 1938, the year before a state-level decision to discontinue interscholastic girls basketball because the games were too strenuous for the girls health. Twenty years later teaching physical education at Arlington, she organized informal games with nearby schools. Attitudes toward competition were changing and, after she began teaching (1961) at Findlay High, varsity games were scheduled against college as well as high school opponents. The Findlay team she coached for five years lost only one game, to then-Bluffton College where she became a health and physical education instructor and women’s basketball, volleyball and tennis coach in 1967. She retired from teaching in 1974 and, two years later, began playing competitive shuffleboard with her husband Eldon Schafer in North Fort Myers, Fla., until his death in 1984. In 1990, she married Jim Clayton and they became active in national and international level shuffleboard, serving as team captains for seven years on the U.S.A. team. They were inducted into the Shuffleboard Association Hall of Fame in 2001. They were elected to the International and Ohio Shuffleboard Halls of Fame in 2007. Mary was inducted into the Hancock Sports Hall of Fame on April 12, 2014.
Mary’s husband Eldon Schafer preceded her in death on April 11, 1984, she married James Clayton in 1990 and he survives in Findlay. On September 18, 2017 she was preceded in death by her son: Steven E. Schafer. Also surviving are her daughter-in-law: Dianne S. (Dukes) Schafer of Mt. Cory; grandsons: Schane E. Schafer of Carey; and Andy (Amy) Schafer of Columbus Grove; great-grandchildren: William “Willie” Schafer, Addison Grace Schafer, A.J. Schafer, and Aleah Schafer; stepsons: John (Pam) Clayton, of Sellersburg, Indiana; and Michael (Pam) Clayton of Louisville, Kentucky; stepdaughter: Sharon Clayton; stepgrandchildren: Jennifer LaGrange, Jonathan Clayton, Hope Clayton Pardieu, and Erin Clayton; step-great-grandchildren: Matthew Smith, Mason LaGrange, Mackenzie Clayton, Jaden Clayton, A.J. Clayton and David Clayton. She has a stepson, James Clayton Jr. that preceded her in death.
Visitation will be held on Wednesday, August 29, 2018 from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at COLDREN-CRATES FUNERAL HOME in Findlay.
The funeral service will begin at the conclusion of the visitation at 1:00 p.m. Pastor Bob Cochran will officiate and interment will follow at Clymer Cemetery.
Memorials may be given to First Lutheran Church in her memory. Online condolences are welcomed at www.coldrencrates.com.
She was born as the only child to Harry E. and Bernice (Powell) Bair in Findlay, Ohio on January 22, 1921.
Mary had been a member Trinity EUB Church in Mt. Cory, St. Pauls Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jenera and currently of the First Lutheran Church in Findlay where she was a member of the Martha Circle. She earned her Bachelors Degree and later her Masters Degree from Bowling Green State University in 1969. She retired as a teacher having taught at Vaughnsville, Arlington, and Findlay High School and at Bluffton University. She and her husband, Eldon Schafer owned and operated the Lima Avenue Produce from 1973 to 1984. She was proud to have obtained her solo pilots license. She was instrumental in returning competitive girls basketball to Hancock County in the 1960s. She played on the county championship team at Liberty in 1938, the year before a state-level decision to discontinue interscholastic girls basketball because the games were too strenuous for the girls health. Twenty years later teaching physical education at Arlington, she organized informal games with nearby schools. Attitudes toward competition were changing and, after she began teaching (1961) at Findlay High, varsity games were scheduled against college as well as high school opponents. The Findlay team she coached for five years lost only one game, to then-Bluffton College where she became a health and physical education instructor and women’s basketball, volleyball and tennis coach in 1967. She retired from teaching in 1974 and, two years later, began playing competitive shuffleboard with her husband Eldon Schafer in North Fort Myers, Fla., until his death in 1984. In 1990, she married Jim Clayton and they became active in national and international level shuffleboard, serving as team captains for seven years on the U.S.A. team. They were inducted into the Shuffleboard Association Hall of Fame in 2001. They were elected to the International and Ohio Shuffleboard Halls of Fame in 2007. Mary was inducted into the Hancock Sports Hall of Fame on April 12, 2014.
Mary’s husband Eldon Schafer preceded her in death on April 11, 1984, she married James Clayton in 1990 and he survives in Findlay. On September 18, 2017 she was preceded in death by her son: Steven E. Schafer. Also surviving are her daughter-in-law: Dianne S. (Dukes) Schafer of Mt. Cory; grandsons: Schane E. Schafer of Carey; and Andy (Amy) Schafer of Columbus Grove; great-grandchildren: William “Willie” Schafer, Addison Grace Schafer, A.J. Schafer, and Aleah Schafer; stepsons: John (Pam) Clayton, of Sellersburg, Indiana; and Michael (Pam) Clayton of Louisville, Kentucky; stepdaughter: Sharon Clayton; stepgrandchildren: Jennifer LaGrange, Jonathan Clayton, Hope Clayton Pardieu, and Erin Clayton; step-great-grandchildren: Matthew Smith, Mason LaGrange, Mackenzie Clayton, Jaden Clayton, A.J. Clayton and David Clayton. She has a stepson, James Clayton Jr. that preceded her in death.
Visitation will be held on Wednesday, August 29, 2018 from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at COLDREN-CRATES FUNERAL HOME in Findlay.
The funeral service will begin at the conclusion of the visitation at 1:00 p.m. Pastor Bob Cochran will officiate and interment will follow at Clymer Cemetery.
Memorials may be given to First Lutheran Church in her memory. Online condolences are welcomed at www.coldrencrates.com.
Mary L. (Bair) Schafer Clayton, age 97, of Findlay, went to be with Jesus, at 10:30 p.m. on Thursday, August 23, 2018 at the Taylor House in Findlay.
She was born as the only child to Harry E. and Bernice (Powell) Bair in Findlay, Ohio on January 22, 1921.
Mary had been a member Trinity EUB Church in Mt. Cory, St. Pauls Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jenera and currently of the First Lutheran Church in Findlay where she was a member of the Martha Circle. She earned her Bachelors Degree and later her Masters Degree from Bowling Green State University in 1969. She retired as a teacher having taught at Vaughnsville, Arlington, and Findlay High School and at Bluffton University. She and her husband, Eldon Schafer owned and operated the Lima Avenue Produce from 1973 to 1984. She was proud to have obtained her solo pilots license. She was instrumental in returning competitive girls basketball to Hancock County in the 1960s. She played on the county championship team at Liberty in 1938, the year before a state-level decision to discontinue interscholastic girls basketball because the games were too strenuous for the girls health. Twenty years later teaching physical education at Arlington, she organized informal games with nearby schools. Attitudes toward competition were changing and, after she began teaching (1961) at Findlay High, varsity games were scheduled against college as well as high school opponents. The Findlay team she coached for five years lost only one game, to then-Bluffton College where she became a health and physical education instructor and women’s basketball, volleyball and tennis coach in 1967. She retired from teaching in 1974 and, two years later, began playing competitive shuffleboard with her husband Eldon Schafer in North Fort Myers, Fla., until his death in 1984. In 1990, she married Jim Clayton and they became active in national and international level shuffleboard, serving as team captains for seven years on the U.S.A. team. They were inducted into the Shuffleboard Association Hall of Fame in 2001. They were elected to the International and Ohio Shuffleboard Halls of Fame in 2007. Mary was inducted into the Hancock Sports Hall of Fame on April 12, 2014.
Mary’s husband Eldon Schafer preceded her in death on April 11, 1984, she married James Clayton in 1990 and he survives in Findlay. On September 18, 2017 she was preceded in death by her son: Steven E. Schafer. Also surviving are her daughter-in-law: Dianne S. (Dukes) Schafer of Mt. Cory; grandsons: Schane E. Schafer of Carey; and Andy (Amy) Schafer of Columbus Grove; great-grandchildren: William “Willie” Schafer, Addison Grace Schafer, A.J. Schafer, and Aleah Schafer; stepsons: John (Pam) Clayton, of Sellersburg, Indiana; and Michael (Pam) Clayton of Louisville, Kentucky; stepdaughter: Sharon Clayton; stepgrandchildren: Jennifer LaGrange, Jonathan Clayton, Hope Clayton Pardieu, and Erin Clayton; step-great-grandchildren: Matthew Smith, Mason LaGrange, Mackenzie Clayton, Jaden Clayton, A.J. Clayton and David Clayton. She has a stepson, James Clayton Jr. that preceded her in death.
Visitation will be held on Wednesday, August 29, 2018 from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at COLDREN-CRATES FUNERAL HOME in Findlay.
The funeral service will begin at the conclusion of the visitation at 1:00 p.m. Pastor Bob Cochran will officiate and interment will follow at Clymer Cemetery.
Memorials may be given to First Lutheran Church in her memory. Online condolences are welcomed at www.coldrencrates.com.
She was born as the only child to Harry E. and Bernice (Powell) Bair in Findlay, Ohio on January 22, 1921.
Mary had been a member Trinity EUB Church in Mt. Cory, St. Pauls Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jenera and currently of the First Lutheran Church in Findlay where she was a member of the Martha Circle. She earned her Bachelors Degree and later her Masters Degree from Bowling Green State University in 1969. She retired as a teacher having taught at Vaughnsville, Arlington, and Findlay High School and at Bluffton University. She and her husband, Eldon Schafer owned and operated the Lima Avenue Produce from 1973 to 1984. She was proud to have obtained her solo pilots license. She was instrumental in returning competitive girls basketball to Hancock County in the 1960s. She played on the county championship team at Liberty in 1938, the year before a state-level decision to discontinue interscholastic girls basketball because the games were too strenuous for the girls health. Twenty years later teaching physical education at Arlington, she organized informal games with nearby schools. Attitudes toward competition were changing and, after she began teaching (1961) at Findlay High, varsity games were scheduled against college as well as high school opponents. The Findlay team she coached for five years lost only one game, to then-Bluffton College where she became a health and physical education instructor and women’s basketball, volleyball and tennis coach in 1967. She retired from teaching in 1974 and, two years later, began playing competitive shuffleboard with her husband Eldon Schafer in North Fort Myers, Fla., until his death in 1984. In 1990, she married Jim Clayton and they became active in national and international level shuffleboard, serving as team captains for seven years on the U.S.A. team. They were inducted into the Shuffleboard Association Hall of Fame in 2001. They were elected to the International and Ohio Shuffleboard Halls of Fame in 2007. Mary was inducted into the Hancock Sports Hall of Fame on April 12, 2014.
Mary’s husband Eldon Schafer preceded her in death on April 11, 1984, she married James Clayton in 1990 and he survives in Findlay. On September 18, 2017 she was preceded in death by her son: Steven E. Schafer. Also surviving are her daughter-in-law: Dianne S. (Dukes) Schafer of Mt. Cory; grandsons: Schane E. Schafer of Carey; and Andy (Amy) Schafer of Columbus Grove; great-grandchildren: William “Willie” Schafer, Addison Grace Schafer, A.J. Schafer, and Aleah Schafer; stepsons: John (Pam) Clayton, of Sellersburg, Indiana; and Michael (Pam) Clayton of Louisville, Kentucky; stepdaughter: Sharon Clayton; stepgrandchildren: Jennifer LaGrange, Jonathan Clayton, Hope Clayton Pardieu, and Erin Clayton; step-great-grandchildren: Matthew Smith, Mason LaGrange, Mackenzie Clayton, Jaden Clayton, A.J. Clayton and David Clayton. She has a stepson, James Clayton Jr. that preceded her in death.
Visitation will be held on Wednesday, August 29, 2018 from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at COLDREN-CRATES FUNERAL HOME in Findlay.
The funeral service will begin at the conclusion of the visitation at 1:00 p.m. Pastor Bob Cochran will officiate and interment will follow at Clymer Cemetery.
Memorials may be given to First Lutheran Church in her memory. Online condolences are welcomed at www.coldrencrates.com.
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