Betty Adler Schermer

Betty Adler Schermer, 94, of Tucson, AZ, and a longtime member of the Quad Cities community, passed away on December 5, 2023, at Peppis Hospice House in Tucson. Visitation will be 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, December 20, 2023, at Weerts Funeral Home, Davenport, IA. Funeral services will be 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, December 21, 2023, at Congregation Beth Israel at Beit Shalom, 2215 E. Kimberly Road, Davenport. Rabbi Henry Karp and Cantor Gail Karp will officiate. Burial will follow at Mt. Nebo Cemetery. Online condolences may be expressed at www.weertsfh.com

Betty was born on May 1, 1929, in Kewanee, IL, to Philip and Henrietta (Bondi) Adler. She attended Monticello Preparatory School in Alton, IL. She received a BA degree from the University of Illinois, College of Journalists. After graduation she worked for the Daily Times newspaper in Davenport, initially as a reporter, and later as assistant society editor.

She married Lloyd G. Schermer of Saint Louis, MO., in 1952, which began one of the great love stories. They began their adventure in Davenport, with Lloyd selling advertising at the Daily Times, predecessor to the Quad-City Times, then continued in Kewanee, IL, where Lloyd served as business manager at the Star-Courier, After that came the move that became the family foundation in Missoula, MT, when Lloyd became general manager at the Missoulian.

When they moved to Missoula in 1961, their son Greg was 5, and their son Grant was 3. Over the next 12 years there, Betty engaged in the community while raising the children, while Lloyd also was negotiating labor agreements and bringing the Anaconda Company newspapers into Lee Enterprises. She served on the boards of the Missoula Symphony Association and the YMCA.

Montana was special for Betty and the family. They made lifelong friends there. Later, they spent their summers at Placid Lake where the boys did what boys do on the lake, and Betty gathered fresh water at the spring at Seeley Lake, and cooked sourdough pancakes, bacon and eggs, on the wood stove every Sunday. The boys were responsible for splitting the wood. When Lloyd returned on the weekends, the family went fishing for trout in the afternoon and sockeye lake salmon in the evenings when they trolled the lake.

They returned to the Quad Cities in 1971, when Lloyd became vice president of newspaper operations for Lee Enterprises and would later lead the company as president and board chairman.

Betty served on the St. Luke’s Hospital board of directors and the St. Luke’s Medical Foundation, later merged to become the Genesis Foundation. Her family donated to both.

Lloyd and Betty were married for 71 years. They journeyed together and were witness to many of the major developments throughout the later part of the 20th century. They were in China shortly after Kissinger opened China again to the western world and visited several times thereafter. They traveled to Japan, as Lee developed its partnership with the Nippon Paint Company to create a new photopolymer plate that changed the newspaper industry. They traveled to London, many times, described by Betty as their favorite city outside of the U.S., and Africa on memorable trips for the Schermer family. Their trips in the U.S. were legendary, from the Bob Marshall Wilderness to the Seattle World’s Fair.

Betty’s legacy of husband, children and grandchildren will continue in the memory of the family with the Adler-Schermer Foundation. Donations may be made to the Davenport Food Bank initiative, where she served Thanksgiving dinners for many years with the family.

Betty is survived by her husband, Lloyd, their children, Gregory and Grant Schermer, and their wives, Mary and Debbie Schermer; their grandchildren, Jennifer Finch, Zachary, Sydney, Rachael and Gabriela Schermer; and their four great-grandchildren, Mason and Lucas Schermer, Adler Moylan and Cecelia McKinney.