Rhonda Schaffer was born on September 28, 1946 the daughter of Henry and Mable (Harries) Bernhardt in Fairmont, Minnesota. Rhonda grew up on a farm along with her brother Roger and sisters Ginger and Linda in Mountain Lake, MN. She graduated high school in 1964 from Mountain Lake High School and continued her education at Jackson Vocational School for bookkeeping. It was in high school that Rhonda met her future husband Donald Schaffer and on May 7, 1966, Donald and Rhonda were united in marriage. From this union they were blessed with two sons, Shannon and Tyler.
Rhonda worked as a secretary for the Jackson County Court House and Veterans Services. She also worked as a meal site manager for the City of Jackson, then worked at Ag Chem. in the electrical assembly area for twenty years prior to retiring in 2009.
Rhonda and her family spent many weekends working at their retirement dream and in 2009 after many long years of clearing the lot, manicuring the lawn, their dream home was finished on Oscar Lake. Rhonda enjoyed entertaining family at their new home, cooking for them, visiting and expressing love. Rhonda loved flowers and spending time planting in her many flower gardens. She used her talented eye and was known as an amateur photographer, taking beautiful pictures of sunsets, flowers, lake scenes, birds and family. Her camera was always at her side ready to snap a shot of those special moments. Rhonda was a dog lover, and was also an excellent cook, especially at making her famous special K bars and home-made soups. She enjoyed watching her grandchildren grow and attended many of their sports events.
Rhonda is preceded in death by her parents, Henry and Mable Bernhardt. She is survived by her husband, Donald Schaffer of Kensington, MN; sons, Shannon (Sherry) Schaffer of Alexandria, MN and Tyler Schaffer of Kensington, MN; grandchildren, Allison Nau (Ryan Rasche) of Jackson, MN, Ashley Schaffer and Ryan Schaffer both of Alexandria, MN; brother, Roger Bernhardt of Fountain Valley, CA; sisters, Ginger (Maynard) Anderson of Mountain Lake, MN, Linda Sampson of Jackson, MN; sisters-in-laws: Diana Schaffer, Carolyn (George) Maras and her loving dog, AJ.
Memorial service held 11:00AM on Tuesday, February 3rd, 2015 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Holmes City, MN with Reverend Denise Crosky presiding. Visitation one hour prior to the service at the church.