Merry Christmas Grandpa!  Thinking of you and Grandma today, so many good Christmas memories with you and Grandma.  

I've been very blessed in my life, and one of the biggest blessings I've had is your influence on my life.  There are so many great memories I have with you......

Like Marylou, I think visits to your house and Fancies are some of my happiest memories as a child.  Whenever I hear the cracking and pop of a fire, I think of sitting in the family room of your home around the holidays waiting with anticipation for everybody's arrival and gift time!  I remember tractor rides with you in the summer, and yes sitting on the tractor in your garage for hours, letting my imagination run wild pretending I was driving a car.  I remember staying with you and Grandma for a week after surgery when I was in pre-first.  We would do school work in the morning, and watch Bill Bonds on the news every night at six!  I remember standing on the corner of Jones Ct. waiting to see the big blue Buick and later the blue Bonneville; then I'd chase you down the court and the prize.......always a piece of candy from the tin under the front seat.  I remember camping with you just after we got Cookie, one morning some very cute girls walked by and started adoring Cookie......I remember you cooking eggs and flirting with those girls and teasing me about what a great dog she was going to be.  I remember how excited I was to see you and Grandma come visit after I moved to Nashville, those visits were very special to me....sorry I never came through on my promise to get you and Grandma a Newell!  :)

There are so many wonderful memories I have with you, and it's those memories that make holidays like today so special.  I'm sure I'm forgetting some other great memories, but in time something will remind me of you and Grandma and I'll always smile.  The best memory of all is that no matter what, every memory was with both you AND Grandma.  What an example you both set for the rest of us to all follow.

Happy holidays, we all miss and love you very much!

Kenneth

I remember sitting here in this very room at Muehlig's Funeral Chapel for my grandmother's funeral.  Most of all I remember that my grandfather wept.  I didn't know that adults cried.  And I remember three years later the funeral procession for my grandfather winding through downtown Ann Arbor.  The shops and businesses were bustling with activity and I wanted them to pause just for a few minutes.  Didn't the world know that IT was different now?
And last Wednesday morning the world changed again.  As I held Dad's hand and watched the physical life ebb from his body I wanted everything to stop – just long enough for the world to acknowledge that it had lost something very special.
We talk about our life here on earth as a journey and we are travelers.  I learned from the way my parents lived out their lives the value of having dreams, setting goals, working hard to accomplish them, the importance of surrounding yourself with good friends along the way, and most essentially – nurturing deep respect and love within family.  That is what makes the whole journey meaningful and worth getting past the bumps along the way.
But the bumps are important too.  They teach us perseverance and to rely on God's direction for us even when there are many different paths ahead and they are all shrouded in fog.  He leads us one step at a time – just enough to get us through the present moment.  Therein lies the basis for maintaining hope and being able to see the journey to completion.  
That word “hope” has taken on a new dimension for me over the last few months.  While on our earthly journey we hope for good outcomes, that we will get through our challenges, for healing from illnesses, we even hope for miracles.  But when an illness is undeniably terminal, that hope looks past earthly bounds to a loving God who graciously welcomes us at the end of the journey.  Dad's journey has been completed now.  I know that he is at peace and happy again with Mom in heaven.  Now WE search the many paths ahead, we use the tools ingrained in us from our parents, we look to God for direction, and hope to one day share the joy of being together with them both again.
Dad - thank you for being you!!!
Love you always!

These are the things that I remember about Grandpa...  

Most of all his "fancies"...I couldn't wait until the news came on because Grandpa would pull out the little plastic cups for all the grandkids, mix a little 7-up and cherry juice, and then to top it all off, a cherry on a plastic sword.  

Another thing I always think of is the Tigers.  When we came to visit it seemed like there was always a Tiger game on the radio or tv.  I also remember one time being lucky enough to go to the old Tiger stadium for a game.

Finally, as a kid we were able to spend Christmas Eve with Grandma and Grandpa several times, as it would get late and Kenneth and I were getting wisked into bed, Grandpa would leave the house and go into the garage, to put carrots out for Rudolph and his friends.  After he had the carrots all set Grandpa would come in for bedtime hugs and a big tuck in....he tucked us in our blankets tight all the way to our toes.  

Grandpa, I love you and miss you, but know that you are happy in heaven with Grandma.  

Love,
Marylou

One of Ayn Rand's characters described another as "a man with an immense capacity for the enjoyment of existence." This has always reminded me of Benjamin Franklin Schairer III. Thank you, Grandpa Schairer, for the excursions and explorations, sharing your genealogical research, the remarkable conversations, your company, your hospitality, and, most of all, for welcoming me into your family.

I love grate grandpa becuse he is funy and fun.  He takes me on adventurs in his motor home.

"For God so love the world, that he gave is only begotten Son, that who so ever shall believe in Him, shall never parish and have everlasting life." John 3:16 He will be always missed and never forgotten. Our love and prayers go out to our family.
Chris and Melodee

I'm writing about the time we went to his birthday party.  We were coming back from my ice skating compitishion and we went to a resterant and got a whole room to our self and there was a big slide show with a ton of pictures of us - like me, my mom, aunt Keri, Alex, Caity, Ashley, Makayla, and grandma and grandpa, ant Jeanne, and uncle Jonh, ant Caroline, and that is it. But it was fun and we had alot of food.  It was good and we had cake, and that is it.

I lov Grate Grandpa beecuz hee takes me camping and givs me lots uf hugs.

Grandpa,
I want to tell you how much you have meant to me.  Idon't know if you remember when we lived with you & Grandma, that I always wanted to go downstairs and see your shop where you made all of our fantasies as children a reality.  The kitchen set for us - the table & chairs.  You showed me what it was to create things with your hands.  All my life you have inspired me to build everything possible.  Whether big or small to take pride in my work and make things possible for anyone I can.  I have never been an emotional member of your family, so I have never taken the time to say thank you. THANK YOU GRANDPA FOR EVERYTHING!
with love, Ben

One memory I had about Great Grandpa was at his birthday and when he told me about when he was in the army.

One of my memories of Great Grandpa was when he told me stories of him as a kid.

My father was a wonderful man.  He led a simple life, but he was rich with all life's virtues.  

He taught me so many things that make me the person I am.  He served his country.  He worked hard and provided for the family giving us comfort.  He loved his wife unconditionally.  He loved to travel.  He played with us, his children … baseball, football, cards, and walked down many paths with us.  He was there for us when we needed him, but stood his distance and allowed us to grow into our own unique individuals.   He was proud of all his children and their accomplishments.  He loved all his grandchildren and great grandchildren.  With every new arrival to the family, he couldn't wait to hold them and have his picture taken.   He loved our spouses.  He surrounded himself with wonderful friends.  He taught us and lived by the simple phrase “do unto others as you would have them do unto you”.   He would laugh, sometimes uncontrollably.  And yes, he would even shed a tear with you.

A couple months ago … he asked me, I wonder what my mother thinks of her little 3 pound baby now?  I think he was so proud of his life.   Well, Dad, as I told you then, I was sure she was proud.  And now, I'm sure you have been reunited and she has told you so herself.

I hope I can continue living my life with the same virtues as Dad modeled for us.   He has given us quite a legacy.    A gift that I am so fortunate to have received and I will treasure forever.

Yes, I will miss my father.
  
Love ya, Dad.

Mary

     The Schairers and the Burtons spent a lot of time up at the Triangle near Caro, Michigan.  In the summer we'd go to a place for swimming and picnicing.  My Uncle Frank and my dad would be the lifeguards while my cousins and siblings and I swam.  Uncle Frank and my dad would sit at a picnic table in the shade of a tree, and watch us.  They had binoculars.  I don't think I quite understood the necessity of the binoculars - we weren't all that far away.  But I think that my Uncle Frank and my dad had to make sure that everyone at the beach was under careful supervision, not just the their sons/daughters and nephew/nieces.  I think that my Aunt Margaret and my mom found this amusing, especially the use of binoculars and the concept of watching the whole beach area.  It would be a hot day, if we were swimming, so I'm sure that there were always some cool beverages available to lifeguards.  They must have done just fine in their lifeguard duties.  We all enjoyed the water without mishap.

Benjamin (or as we called him, FRANK) was a dear friend of ours since we met him in 1979.  We formed a club with a group of organists and their spouses and we called the club "The Concordians" because we all had a Hammond Concordian Organ.  We had an organ teacher by the name of Bob Billings and he and his wife also joined our club. Each of us had a party once a month and we had a great time.  Frank and his wife Margaret were wonderful friends until she passed away Feb. 11, 2010.  We will always miss both of them and will never forget them. 

Shirlee & Jack Schenk

OBITUARY

Benjamin "Frank" Franklin Schairer

February 7, 1921 – November 16, 2011

Muehlig Funeral Chapel

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