Mary Shafer

THEBES, Ill. -- Mary Shafer, 100, of Thebes passed away on Tuesday, May 11, 2021, at 1:40 a.m. in Ratliff Care Center in Cape Girardeau.

Mary was born March 14, 1921, in East St. Louis, Illinois, a daughter of Walter Lee and Mattie Pullem Minton. She was the second of seven children born to their union. She married Edward Shafer on July 25, 1942, in Cape Girardeau, and he preceded her in death Oct. 30, 1966.

As a child of the Great Depression, Mary was no stranger to hard work. She left home at 15 to take a job on a dairy farm, where she cared for the house, twin year-old boys, and cooked three meals a day for the family and crew of 12 men. Half of her wages were sent home to help support her family. This is where she learned her life's principal of use it up, wear it out, do without and make do.

Mary worked a combined total of 33 years as a cafeteria cook, first at the Thebes school and later, when the local schools consolidated, at Egyptian Community Unit School, where she retired as cafeteria supervisor in 1989. Mary took pride in and was noted for her cooking, especially pies, cinnamon rolls and yeast rolls. Former students still remember school lunches that included hot rolls made by her.

In retirement, Mary took pleasure in sewing and attending Beech Grove Baptist Church in Thebes, where she was children's Sunday school teacher for several years. She also volunteered as church custodian. Even in retirement, Mary enjoyed cooking for others. You never left her home without being fed.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Ed Shafer; parents; half sister, Viola Underwood; infant sister, Helen; brothers, Hollis and Robert Minton; niece, Mary Ellen Fugate; and nephews, Thomas Smothers and Ronald Payne.

Loving survivors are her children, Edward E. (Sharon) Shafer of Cape Girardeau and Elizabeth (Lyle) McCoy of Thebes, IL; grandchildren, Kathi (Bryan) Gosche of St. Charles, Missouri; Jason (Marie) Shafer of Jefferson City; and Paula Shafer of Cincinnati, Ohio; and great-grandchildren, Kayle Gosche and Eileen Shafer. She is also survived by her siblings, Thelma Smothers of Jackson; Ruth Rosenthal of Olive Branch, Illinois; and James (Shirley) Minton of Cape Girardeau.

Visitation for Mary Shafer will be from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday at Crain Funeral Home in Tamms, Illinois.

Funeral service will be at 1 p.m. Monday at the funeral home with the Rev. Lacey Betts officiating. Interment will follow in Rose Hill Cemetery in Thebes.

In lieu of customary remembrances, the family requests memorial donations be made to the American Heart Association or St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Envelopes will be available and accepted at the funeral home.

To view the full obituary or to leave an online condolence for the family visit www.crainsonline.com.