Adelgunde Frieda Schaller (second child of Pastor John Pieper and Lydia nee’ Hoenecke), born on July 23, 1911, in Yellow Medicine County, Echo, Minn., was blessed with one-hundred-and-one years, three months, and twenty-four days on planet Earth before Jesus took her to Himself on November 16, 2012.
Family and friends gathered at Messiah Lutheran Church, Eau Claire, Wisconsin, on December 1, 2012, to celebrate the victory that Jesus has given her over sin, death, pain, and all the burdens of this world—which Adelgunde bore with Christian patience.
We appreciate that Adelgunde Schaller was given the grace to follow in the footsteps of many renowned Bible women (as recounted in the funeral service obituary), for the Lord blessed her service to Him and His people in many ways. Belonging to God’s family since her Baptism, Adelgunde attended Christian schools during her childhood and teen years, enjoyed devotional singing, and as a young adult taught at Bethany Lutheran High School and College, which led to her marriage with Hilbert Schaller in 1942. (That’s the time-frame of the accompanying photo.)
The Lord blessed them with six children during their fifteen years of marriage as the Lord moved them to Glencoe, Minn.; Loveland, Colo.; Plymouth, Nebr.; and then back to Mankato, Minn.—before Hilbert’s earthly pilgrimage
ended in 1957.
The Lord did not forsake this widow as she nurtured her six children at home and in the Christian fellowship of the Church of the Lutheran Confession. Mrs. Schaller became a kindergarten teacher at Immanuel Lutheran parochial school before joining the faculty of the fledgling Immanuel Lutheran High School and College (Mankato), and her service to ILC continued in Eau Claire for a total of forty-one years in classroom and library—ending with her retirement in 2000 a month before her eighty-ninth birthday.
She helped nurture two generations of ILC students, who will long cherish her memory—as do her former colleagues and many friends.
Mrs. Schaller (“Gunde” to her contemporaries) was personable; she looked you in the eye, was an engaging conversationalist, and shared her thoughts with vigor—all in a ladylike manner and with good humor. She was a natural teacher, interested in national and world history, an inveterate traveler (Germanic to the core!), and an avid sports fan.
Her family and friends will long remember her as a special gift of God. “Now rest beneath night’s shadow” was earthly prelude to the eternal life which she now enjoys “with all the saints who from their labors rest.”
Adelgunde Frieda Schaller was preceded in death by her parents, sisters Ingeborg (her twin), Caecilie Pieper, Lydia Janzow, and her daughter Judith (Robert) Voss. She is survived by her five children: Miriam (Robert) Nestler, Althea (William) Sell, Deborah (William) Perry, Peter (Melanie) Schaller, Andrea (Matthias) Borck, her sister Zita Broetzmann, her brother John (Julie) Pieper; fifteen grandchildren, twenty-four great-grandchildren, and many nieces and nephews.
Praise be to God who has given her (and us) the victory in our Lord Jesus Christ!