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Genealogy - McElmeel Family Pages

Madonna M. Shaffer ('nee McElmeel) obituary (Dubuque, Iowa paper) (January 2, 1932-March 5, 1999) Daughter of: Lonald Vincent McElmeel and Leona Colette Jasper Burial Mount Olivet Cemetery Key West, Iowa

Donna Mae Shaffer, 67, of 2015 Lombard Street (Dubuque, Iowa), died at 12:20 a.m. Friday, March 5, 1999, at Froedtert Memoria1 Lutheran Hospital, Milwaukee.
Services will be at 10 a.m. Monday at St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Church, with burial in Mount Olivet Cemetery, Key West, Iowa. Friends may call from 2 to 7 p.m. today at Egeihof, Siegert & Casper Westview Funeral Home, 2659 Kennedy Road, where there will be a wake service at 6 p.m.
Mrs. Shaffer was a teacher in Dyersville, Iowa, and in rural one-room schools in Delaware and Dubuque counties.
She was born on Jan. 2, 1932, daughter of Lonald and Leona (Jasper) McElmeel, on the family homestead farm, south of Earlville, Iowa.
She married James L. Shaffer on May 28, 1955. Together they forged a family that grew to in-clude four children, their spouses, and five grandchildren, all of whom survive. She taught them to love each other, to work hard and play fair, to be kind to others, to believe in themselves, and to have fun. She lived those words, caring for her mother-in-law and father-in-law, Regina H. and Harold L. Shaffer, her sister-in-law, Helen Appel, and her hus-band’s aunt, Irene Sutton, who preceded her in death. Her best example for some 44 years was her love for her husband.
She grew up in Dyersville, amid much mischief and love, and graduated from St. Francis Xavier High School in 1949. She at-tended Briar Cliff College, Sioux City, Iowa, and the University of Dubuque. She enjoyed life, whether it meant working in her beautiful garden, playing golf with friends, singing in church choir, or working shoulder-to-shoulder with her husband in their photography business. She brought grace, humor and joy to those around her, and her family and friends are richer for her life and poorer for her passing. The world has lost a beautiful soul.
Surviving are her husband, James; her son, David J. (Angela L .Knight) Shaffer; and their Sons, Alexander D. and Eric A. Shaffer; her daughter, Ann E. Shaffer (Dean P. Robbins); and their son, Joseph J. Shaffer; her daughter, Amy M. (Jerry) Grahs; and their children, Megan K. and William L. Grahs, and a baby due in October; her daughter, Mary Pat Shaffer (Robert Leff); and their baby due in July; her brother, Lynell McElmeel, of Waukesha, Wis.; three sisters, Bernadine Thielen, of Dyersville, Kathleen (Dave) Luensmann, of Boulder, Co., and Patricia (Bill) Dougherty, of Dubuque; and many nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents.  Memorials may be given to the Wednesday Night Meal for the Needy at St. Patrick's Parish, Dubuque, which she supported.

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