Lee James Schaeffer

Lee James Schaeffer, 85, passed away on June 29, 2024.

He was born on September 11, 1938, in Clear Lake, Indiana, and was raised in Angola, Indiana. He was the second of three children born to Lyle and Esther (Wycoff) Schaeffer.

In his youth, Lee worked for the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, delivering the newspaper on his bicycle to many customers on two routes in Angola. He enjoyed playing mumblety-peg, marbles, and chess, drinking Pokagon soda pop, and watching movies at the Brokaw Theatre. He was a good brother to his sister, Eileen, and brother, Max. During junior high and high school, he worked at what was then the Angola Standard Oil gas station, which his father managed.

Lee graduated from Angola High School in 1956, then attended the dental technician program at Elkhart University in Elkhart, Indiana while working part-time at a factory making cardboard boxes. After graduating, he worked for about three years at a commercial dental lab in Indianapolis. In 1960, at age 21, he married his high school sweetheart and best friend, Mary Jane (Janie) Hamma.

Lee continued his education by entering a dental technician training program at Indiana University in Indianapolis. He volunteered at the front desk of what was then General Hospital in exchange for room and board while he completed the training program.

In 1964, he began working in maxillofacial prosthetics at Indiana University dental school, where he enjoyed working and becoming friends with graduate students from all over the world, including his good friend, Ari. His work supported the dental school, ENT, and oral surgery departments. He developed new techniques for designing and making maxillofacial prosthetics, and his work helped many patients. He enjoyed helping others and said that his occupation was a great way to help people out.

After Lee retired from IU in 2000, he and Janie enjoyed many happy years of retirement, watching IU and Pacers basketball games, traveling, and spending countless hours together engaging in hobbies, with Lee carving remarkably realistic wood decoys, birds, and figurines, and Janie hand-crafting quilts and greeting cards. Their favorite travel destinations were Gatlinburg, Dollywood, and the Smoky Mountains. They were married for 57 years before Janie’s passing in December 2017.

Lee is survived by his sister, Eileen Weisberg of Littleton, Colorado; brother, Max (Betty) Schaeffer of Tucson, Arizona; daughters, Lisa Acevedo and Diane Schaeffer, both of San Diego County, California; and many other family members and friends. He will be missed. He was a gentleman, quiet and calm in speech and actions, yet he had a sly sense of humor and a twinkle in his eye. He will be remembered for the pride he took in his home and yard, and that he was always the first in the neighborhood to mow when grass started getting long. He will also be remembered for his enjoyment of gardening, yard work, wood carving, chess, burgers, fries, ice cream, and root beer. Lee and his family are forever grateful for the kindness, generosity, and help his friends and neighbors provided to him in his later years of life.

Interment will take place at West Ridge Park Cemetery in Indianapolis, in the Garden of Remembrance, next to his wife.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the American Heart Association.

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