Leonard B. Schaefer
Leonard B. Schaefer, a lifelong East Hampton Village resident, died at home on Christmas Eve. He was 86 and had lived on King Street all his life.
Mr. Schaefer often recounted the great times he had growing up in East Hampton. The youngest of five children of Edward and Harriet Amanda Davis Schaefer, he worked with his brothers and sisters in their businesses, Edward Schaefer & Sons Buses, and Schaefer Taxi and Limousine Service.
He drove several generations of local area students, athletic teams, teachers, and coaches during his 56 years as a bus driver, and was always delighted when celebrities such as Helen Hayes, Helen McGinnis, John Hall Wheelock, A.J. Liebling and Jean Stafford, Big and Little Edie Beale, or artists de Kooning or Pollock hired limos or needed a taxi ride.
Drafted in February 1942, he served with the 60th Combat Engineers in the European Theater from Normandy to Germany until 1945. He toured that area again on the 50th anniversary of D-Day. The 60th Combat Engineers had yearly reunions which he enthusiastically attended for many years.
An avid golfer, upon his retirement he wintered and golfed from his house on the fifth hole of Indian Wells Golf Club in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. He was a member of the South Fork Country Club in Amagansett where he once scored a hole in one.
A 64-year member of the East Hampton Fire Department and a past captain of Company No. 4, he also belonged to the local Veterans of Foreign Wars and American Legion posts.
In June 1946 he married Mary Thomason, who predeceased him in September 1985. He married again, in December 1988, to Marilynn Sadlon Schaefer.
He is survived by his children, Melanie A. Ross and her husband Michael; Leonard L. Schaefer; Russell B. Schaefer and his wife Joanne; Michele DeFilippis and her husband Matthew; and Marcia Roberts; eight grandchildren, Tim Ross, Daniel and Peter Schaefer, Pali Cocco, Cassandra Cervera, E.J. Roberts, Sophia and Alex DeFilippis; as well as many nieces and nephews.
He was predeceased by a sister, Anna Becker; and three brothers, George, Carl and Morley.
Fire Department services were held on December 29 at Yardley & Pino Funeral Home in East Hampton and a graveside service was held at Cedar Lawn Cemetery on December 30.
Memorial donations to East Hampton Fire Department, Soldier Flight, East End Hospice or any local service organization would be appreciated by the family.
on Jan 4, 2011