Betty Ann Schaper

Betty Ann Schaper was born January 24, 1929, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Hugh Wildish and Eulah Warner Wildish.  

She died April 30, 2024, age 95, at Crandall Medical Center in Sebring, Ohio. 

She was preceded in death by her husband, Donald Schaper, P.E., who died in 1995. 

She is survived by her five children,  daughters, Amy (David) Trotter of Huron, Ohio, Nancy (David) Ebert of Milford, Michigan, Janet Schaper of Lancaster, Ohio, and Paula (Jack) Zittere of Patagonia, Arizona, and son Ned Schaper of Tucson, Arizona. She is also survived by her sister, Nancy Taft Youngs of Lansing, Michigan, 8 grandchildren, and 14 great-grandchildren.

Betty Ann was an active community volunteer, student, and teacher. She was elected to Alliance City Council and the Alliance City School Board.   She was President of various PTAs, President and Board member for the YMCA, Trustee for the Alliance Area Youth Center, Board of Directors for the Alliance City Recreation, Department, President of AAUW and an active member of many other civic organizations, including Kiwanis, YWCA Meals on Wheels, Shade Tree Committee, Community Concert Association, Postscript, and Qui Vive.  She was president of many of those organizations, including the School Board.  After the death of her husband, Donald Schaper, Betty Ann served as Director for the Friendship Center and taught at Alliance High School. 

Betty Ann was a lifelong University of Wisconsin supporter and was proud of her Wisconsin heritage. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1950 and began her professional life as a Middle School Teacher. She received her master’s degree in European History from Kent State University and was a PhD candidate in History at University of Akron.  Don and Betty Ann lived with their children in Alliance from the mid-1950s, except when the family moved to Brussels, Belgium, in 1961, returning on the RMS Queen Mary in 1964.

Betty Ann was a long-time member of the Union Avenue United Methodist Church. She believed in walking and fresh air and was seen daily, rain or shine, walking the family’s dogs through the Mount Union campus, or walking by herself once the dogs were gone.

Honoring her wishes, there will be no calling hours or funeral. Betty Ann will be laid to rest next to her husband at Riverside Cemetery in Kalamazoo, Michigan. 

Donations in her honor may be made to Union Avenue United Methodist Church (https://unionavenueumc.org), The Wilderness Center (https://wildernesscenter.org), or Copeland Oaks The Oaks Foundation (https://www.oaksfoundation.com/copeland-life-care/). 

Betty Ann’s family would like to thank the staff at Copeland Oaks and Crandall Medical Center for their care, the staff at Union Avenue United Methodist Church for their pastoral visits and cards from church members, and her many dear friends.