Buchanan, Valerie L. (Scheidecker) 1911-2002

BUCHANAN, SCHEIDECKER, BEDELL

Posted By: volunteer (email)
Date: 8/7/2005 at 15:20:20

PELLA - Valerie L. Buchanan, 90, of Pella and formerly of New Jersey and Massachusetts, died Wednesday, Feb. 27, at Pella Regional Health Center.

Her funeral service was held this morning, March 4, at Van Dyk-Duven Funeral Home in Pella, the Rev. John H. Vandenberg officiating. Burial: Oakwood Cemetery in Pella.

Valerie Louise Scheidecker was born June 18, 1911, in Brooklyn, N.Y., to Walter Howard and Amy Bedell Scheidecker. Her paternal grandfather was from Alsace Lorraine, and Valerie had a lifelong love of the French language and culture. They lived in Bay Ridge, entrance to New York Harbor. She was an outstanding student, graduated from high school in 1928 and graduated from Maxwell Training School for Teachers in 1930 at age 19. She worked at Chemical Bank until 1936, then taught music in Brooklyn grammar schools from 1936 to 1945.

On April 8, 1939, she married Emerson Buchanan in Brooklyn. His career as a professor of philosophy took them to Madison, N.J. They acquired her sister's four children, the Alice L. Peters family: Phyllis and Constance, Kenneth and Martin Kerger; nieces Phyllis J. Cassidy of New York, N.Y. and Constance A. Ross of Galion, Ohio; and a nephew, Kenneth F. Kerger and wife Roberta, and their children of Pella.

In 1984 Valerie and Emerson moved from Northampton, Mass., to Pella. Emerson died May 29, 1988. Valerie moved into Pella Community Nursing Home in 1995. She enjoyed amateur acting and double crostic puzzles.

She is survived by a sister, Amy Douglas of Chowchilla, Calif.; nieces and nephews, and several great-nieces and great-nephews.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Emerson; her parents; her sisters and brother: Harriet Schofield, Alice L. Peters and Howard Scheidecker; a nephew, Martin Kerger; and a great-nephew, Kurt Kerger.

The Oskaloosa Herald, March 4, 2002