Reverend Irl C. Schahrer, 79, formerly of Olney died Wednesday May 14, 2003 in the Cottage at Highgate House in Bellingham, Wash. The body will be cremated and a memorial service held at Riverside National Cemetery in California with interment beside his wife.

Rev. Schahrer was born on December 29, 1923 in Glendale, Ariz., the son of Wilbert H. and Leila G. (Scherer) Schahrer.

After the death of his father in 1924 his family returned to Olney where he grew up and attended school. He graduated from Olney Township High School in 1941. He graduated from the University of Illinois with a degree in Agriculture. After serving in the European theater during World War II, he returned to Europe and spent a year helping with reconstruction of a church there. Following that, he attended the Lutheran Seminary in Chicago and became an ordained minister in May 1951. He married Aileen Fritzges soon thereafter and started serving Lutheran churches in Illinois, Indiana, New Jersey and California, where he also served as chaplain in the Air Force Reserves, being a Lt. Colonel until his retirement in 1983.

After the death of his wife, Aileen in 1989, he married Turdis Elsie Johansen in May 1992. She preceded him in death in late 1994.

Rev. Schahrer is survived by two daughters, Marcia Reimers of Bellingham, Wash. and Beth Wendlandt of Victorville, Calif.; two sons, Jan Schahrer of Lancaster, Calif. and David Schahrer of Palmdale, Calif. and  a sister, Mary Beth Winchester of Olney.

He was preceded in death by his parents, two wives, an infant child, a sister, Wilma and a brother, Carl.

Published in Olney Daily Mail (IL)