MARY L. KAUFMANN

Mrs. Mary L. Kaufmann, 84, of the Good Samaritan Home, formerly of Payson, died at 12:25 p.m. Thursday (October 17, 2002) in Good Samaritan Home.

Born July 27, 1918 in Quincy, Mary was the daughter of William J. and Mabel Martin Schlagenhauf. She married Elmer John Kaufmann on December 27, 1941 in San Francisco, California. He survives.

Mary was a member of the Payson Congregational United Church of Christ where she taught Sunday
School and was active with the Women's Fellowship. She was a 50 year member of the Pike County Chapter 20 Order of Eastern Star and was a former member of the Home Bureau and a 4-H leader. Mary enjoyed knitting, sewing, gardening, growing flowers, reading, and doing jigsaw puzzles and crossword puzzles. She and her husband wintered in Arizona for many years and they enjoyed playing cards, and listening and dancing to big band music.

A graduate of Quincy High School and the Western Illinois State Teacher's College, Mary taught Home Economics in Homer, IL for 2 years before moving to Payson where she taught for a year at Payson Seymour High School. During WW II, she was employed as a supervisor for a telephone company in San Francisco, CA. She and her husband moved back to Payson in 1946 and she devoted herself to her family, farming and worked as a substitute teacher in the Payson schools.

Also surviving is a daughter, Barbara Burkhardt and her husband Charles of Palmyra, MO.; two sons, Jim Kaufmann and his wife Lori of Payson, IL. and Bob Kaufmann and his wife Beth of Pleasant Plains, IL.; ten grandchildren; fifteen great grandchildren; a sister, Anne Sylvester of Quincy; and several nieces and nephews.

Mrs. Kaufmann was preceded in death by her parents; a granddaughter, Kim Kaufmann; a grandson, Timothy Kaufmann; and a brother, John Schlagenhauf.

Funeral services will be held Sunday afternoon at 1:30 in the Zehender Robinson Stormer Cookson Funeral Home in Payson by the Rev. Rick Welch. Burial will be in the Payson New Cemetery.

Visitation will be held Saturday evening from 4:00 to 7:00 and Sunday until the time of services at the funeral home in Payson. Pike County Chapter #20 O. E. S. will conduct services Saturday evening at 7:00 at the funeral home.

Memorials may be made to the Payson Congregational Church or the Blessing Foundation for Hospice.