Barbara Jeanne Schaehrer's Obituary
Barbara Jeanne Schaehrer of Tavares, FL passed away at her home on June 9,2025, just short of her 80th birthday which would have been July 17. Barbara grew up in Pine Plains, NY, and often reminisced about the beauty of the area and the friends she had made in high school. As an honor student, highly respected by her classmates, there was no doubt that Barbara would seek further education, and so she left Pine Plains to attend Western Maryland College. That led her to AT & T where she found her partner, Mike Gerber, as well as several lifetime friends and a long and successful professional life.
As much as she enjoyed working over those many years, she also missed her family and longed for a less stressful life. Not surprisingly to those who knew her, she wisely took early retirement and moved to Florida, where she lived in close proximity to her parents and provided them with loving care over the next 20 years.
Those who really knew Barbara experienced the joy of her intelligence, the benefit of her memory (she remembered details from the 1950’s with ease), and her sincere and unwavering love of animals, perhaps most notably, Lucy, her faithful friend until the end. But perhaps most of all, we will remember that she was genuine, down to earth, and had a wonderful sense of humor which often led to laughter of the most joyous kind. She enjoyed a lifelong love of sports, particularly tennis, horse racing and her Maryland Terrapins.
Barbara was predeceased by her parents, Ed and Helen Schaehrer. She is survived by her longtime partner, Michael Gerber and his daughter Amanda, her sister Judith Schaehrer Andriesse and her husband, Paul, as well as nephews Jeffrey Andriesse (and Nicole) and Mark Andriesse (and Angela). Mourning her loss also are her cousins in Florida, Maryland and Minnesota as well as her close and treasured friends, Sue Kilmer and Jan Flora, (son Jeff Carter)
At Barbara’s request, burial services will be private at the cemetery in Red Hook, NY, and memorial contributions may be made to Best Friends Animal Society at https://www.bestfriends.org.
Condolences and memories may be left at https://www.SteversonHamlinHilbish.com
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