Mr. George William Schafer II

George W. Schafer II, 95, formerly of Carroll County George William Schafer II, 95, of Ocala, Fla., died Friday, Feb. 15, 2013, after a long illness. Born in 1917, in Violetville (Baltimore), he was the the eldest son of Harry J. and I. Ethel Schafer. He was the husband of Janice B. Schafer. After graduation from Franklin Day School in Baltimore, he began farming, with horses, his parents’ farm, Petticoat Hope Farm, in Marriottsville. After service with the Army Air Corps in World War II, he entered the family business Harry J. Schafer & Sons, a retail butcher stall, in Lexington Market in Baltimore. In 1954, he bought Lone Oak Farm, a dairy farm, in Woodbine, which he farmed for many years before returning to the renamed Harry J. Schafer’s Sons, working with his brothers. After he retired around 1980, he bought a small horse farm, naming it Petticoat Hope Farm, near Ocala, and spent a decade raising and showing Arabian horses. He continued farming after selling the farm and horses and moving to Ocala, keeping his family and neighbors supplied with citrus fruit from his trees for many years. He was a founding member of Freedom Lodge No. 112 A.F. & A.M. in Sykesville. He was a deacon, elder and clerk of session of Springfield Presbyterian Church in Sykesville. Upon moving to Florida, he served as an elder in First Presbyterian Church of Ocala. Surviving, in addition to his wife, are children George William Schafer III and wife Linda, of Virginia Beach, Va., Suzanne Schafer-Coates and husband David Coates, of Hightstown, N.J., Dorothy S. Joseph, of Sykesville, and Lynn Stalker and husband Scott, of Ocala; grandchildren Henry, Malcolm and Charlie Coates, Jillian, Jeremy and Teddy Joseph, and Amanda Libardoni; numerous nephews and nieces; brothers Charles Schafer, and Harry J. Schafer Jr. and wife La Rue; and former wife Dorothy Clarke Schafer. He was predeceased by a sister, Ruth Schafer Horvath. Visitation will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, March 15, at Haight Funeral Home & Chapel, 6416 Sykesville Road, Sykesville. Visitation will also be held from 10 a.m. until the time of service, 11 a.m. Saturday, March 16, at Springfield Presbyterian Church, 7300 Spout Hill Road, Sykesville. Interment will be private. Memorial contributions may be sent to Springfield Presbyterian Church, 7300 Spout Hill Road, Sykesville, MD 21784; or to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Mid-Jersey Chapter, 28 Kennedy Blvd., Suite 180, East Brunswick, NJ 08816.

Mr. George William Schafer II

November 15, 1917 - February 15, 2013