Photo Courtesy Theodore Roosevelt Medora Foundation
By Marci Narum
It’s not hard to find someone who has a story about Sheila Schafer. You probably have one of your own.
Randy Hatzenbuhler has many. The president of the Theodore Roosevelt Medora Foundation recalls one of the last times he saw Sheila, visiting her in the hospital just days before she passed away in March this year. It was one of the countless times she had made Randy laugh. Sheila had been sharing her recent experience with a colonoscopy.
“Lying on her side, Sheila snapped her head back and said to the man performing the procedure, ‘and at what age did you decide this was a good career choice?’”
Photo Courtesy Theodore Roosevelt Medora Foundation
“That was Sheila,” laughs Randy. “She loved the value of shock humor!”
Sheila could always make you laugh. And she had a knack for making people feel significant. When I saw Sheila earlier this year, she greeted me the way she always did—throwing her arms wide open—and shouting, “Monica!”
I didn’t correct her. I just hugged her, and appreciated the warm embrace she always gave me when I saw her.
A few minutes later, I felt someone grab my arm. It was Sheila.
“Marci! I called you Monica. I can’t believe it. I know better!”
I smiled and said, “It happens all the time!”
I saw Sheila again the next week and she waved, winked, and said “Hi, Monica!”
Photo Courtesy Theodore Roosevelt Medora Foundation
Sheila was married to the man who invented Mr. Bubble, but if you ever met her, you would agree, she was a bubbly woman herself. Her husband also invested in Medora, and it’s a place she continued to love and promote after his death in 2001.
And so it’s fitting she would be called the First Lady of Medora.
It’s also fitting that the 2016 Medora Musical would remember her in some way.
“It’s going to be a surprise,” says Curt Wollan, Executive Producing Director of the Medora Musical.
“We have something planned to pay tribute to Sheila and Harold Schafer. It’s going to be truly memorable.”
To tell you more would be a huge spoiler. So if it’s not already in your plans, you’re going to want to see the Medora Musical this summer.
Sheila Schafer won’t be there. But her spirit will. Her regular seat in the Burning Hills Amphitheater will be empty. It’s likely though, that your heart will be full after seeing the show.
It opens June 3 and runs through September 10th. Note: Be sure to pick up your own copy of the July issue of Inspired Woman magazine. You will meet the Greatest Fan of the Greatest Show in the West.