Vida Blanche Schaefer Garver

On Saturday, September 25, 2021, Vida Blanche Schaefer Garver, loving wife, mother, grandmother, great grandmother, aunt, and friend to many, went home with our lord and savior Jesus Christ at the age of 87.

Vida was born on July 10, 1934 to Victor Fredrick William Schaefer and Irena Viola McKay Schaefer in Pine Bluffs, Wyoming. The family relocated for a short time to Liberty, Oregon and then in 1939, they moved to the Farm in Aumsville. Vida attended Aumsville school for grades 1-8 and graduated from Cascade High School in 1952.

She is survived by her older brother, Richard Schaefer and her two younger sisters, Marilyn Schaefer Veach and Patricia Schaefer Allison.

On August 3, 1952, she married the love of her life, C. Gene Garver (deceased January 10, 2021). They were married for 69 years, and raised four children, Gene Allen (Rona), Richard Eric (deceased in 1979), Vickie Ann Garver Borigo Hartel (Michael) and Ronald Ray (Danielle), Grandchildren (Erica, Stacey, Jessica, Tonia, Karissa, Zane, Kaeden and Tori) and Great Grandchildren (Mekayla, Chloe, Kenzie, Ava, Degen, Quinn, Sawyer and Violet). For the majority of their married life, and the years when they were raising their children, they made their home just ¼ of a mile from her childhood farm. In 1978, their forever home was built which was located just across the creek from their first home.

Vida was a Lutheran her entire life and attended several different Missouri Synod churches. She was a member and faithful servant of Messiah Lutheran Church at the time of her passing.

In the early years, they loved to spend weekends clamming and crabbing at Newport, Oregon and tent camping until they purchased a travel trailer when they traveled to Yellowstone, Canada, the Redwoods, Moses Lake, Washington just to name a few of the places. In the later years, they just loved to travel and went to many amazing places such as the east coast, Spain, Greece, Germany, and other European countries and several cruises but their favorite vacation destination was Hawaii which they visited several times.

Some of her amazing accomplishments include:  Ceramic business owner (Where her friends would gather every Wednesday night for a night of ceramics and a girls’ gab session – the original girls night out!), seamstress/quilter (she loved to sew and she made dresses, costumes, wedding dresses, suits, short sets, dolls, quilts, reupholstered furniture, etc. – if it could be sewn, she did it! She was also an amazing cook and baker as many of her children, grandchildren, numerous cousins, nieces and nephews will attest as she created beautiful wedding cake masterpieces for many, many weddings throughout the years.

Special memories include how she “loved to shop!” She especially loved to shop for school clothes, coats and shoes at the Emporium and Macy’s. Purchasing jewelry and glassware was also a long-time passion. They were also famous for bringing home specialty items from their many travels.

She loved all animals and especially dogs and cats and they had many of each throughout the years. A couple of years ago, she decided that she did not want to have an indoor cat so she chose to adopt a cat that showed up at her doorstep. The cat decided to stay and was known as the “garage cat”. My dad told her to stop feeding the cat and my mom agreed that when the cat food she had on hand was gone, she would stop. Well, I cannot tell you how many times her granddaughter Tonia and her daughter Vickie and son-in-law Michael, were roped into making a secret Costco run for cat food when she was running low…I think my dad figured out what was going on, but he never let on that he knew what my mom was doing. I think he even left the garage door open on occasion so that the cat could come in out of the weather…

A special thank you is extended to Robin Henkel Garver, who provided loving care and day-to-day companionship as a 24/7 live-in caregiver the past 6 months which enabled our mother to remain in her forever home as long as possible. You are truly a blessing and we appreciate everything you did for our mother.

Vida whose larger than life personality who never met a stranger is greatly loved and will be missed by so many.

A graveside service will be held at City View Cemetery (Salem, Oregon) on Wednesday, October 6, 2021 at 3pm.