Ruth Katherine Schairer

Ruth Katherine Schairer, 79, passed away Sunday, December 5, 2004 at Glenpool Health Care, Glenpool, Oklahoma. Ms. Schairer was born in Syracuse, New York on February 1, 1925 to Eugene Schairer and Elsa Fischer Schairer . She lived in Syracuse, New York, graduated from Eastwood High School and moved to Solvay New York in 1991. She worked in various minor positions in the city before she entered the Women's Army Corp March 17, 1945. She received basic training at Fort Des Moines, Iowa and attended clerk typist school . Her first assignment was at Camp Chaffee, Arkansas. She was then sent overseas to serve in WW II, during this assignment she was able to visit her grandmother, aunt and uncles in the French zone. She returned stateside and was assigned to Offutt Field, Nebraska until she was discharged in 1948.
Ms. Schairer entered Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts in 1948. She was recalled to active duty for the Korean War on September 3, 1950 and was sent to Japan in January 1951. She was assigned to a Tokyo hospital where she cared for patients from Turkey, Holland, Australia, and France. She returned to stateside in 1952 and was discharged from Fort Devens, Massachusetts. Some of her awards were Korean Service Medal, Occupation Medal (Japan) and United Nations Service Ribbon.
In 1953 she completed a nurses training course, worked in several hospitals and spent a year as an industrial nurse for a large company. Ms. Schairer worked at the Syracuse Developmental Center from 1966 to 1974. She observed the transition from the old buildings to the new and the overtaking of modern psychiatric care for the patients. She became interested in the transition of the Syracuse Developmental Center to the Central New York Veterans Home. Ms. Ruth Katherine Schairer belonged to St. Stephen's Lutheran Church, Syracuse since 1935; Women's Army Corp Veterans Chapter #90; lifetime member of Disabled American Veterans #30; Veterans of Foreign War Post #2893; American Legion Post #41; Women in Memorial Service to America Korean Veterans; Served on many veterans' committees including Veterans Council, Red Cross Service to military families and Veterans Administration Veteran Council; worked to convert Syracuse Developmental Center to a Veterans Home in Syracuse, New York.
Ms. Schairer was preceded in death by both parents. She is survived by her close friends Jim and Carol McGuirk of Glenpool, OK and Deana & Alan Obst of Alamo, Texas.
Donations may be made to volunteer services of the VA Hospital in Syracuse, NY.
Arrangements were entrusted to Daniel C. Schaudt of Schaudt's Glenpool Funeral Service & Cremation Care. Family and friends may view the obituary and send condolences to the family online at www.schaudtfuneralservice.com