Lena M. Delay

Lena Mae Schacherbauer was born in Illinois on July 7, 1929, one of ten children. She grew up on a farm where life was hard work and times were poor. In her early teens her father decided she was the best cook of the children so at 4:30 in the morning he would call out "Lena Mae, get up, time to make the biscuits!" In her senior year of high school, she was a cheerleader on the pep club at Roanoke High School (as well as a good basketball player.)

After graduation she left home and began her first job at State Farm. Marriage followed, then the first child, Kathy Lynn in 1951. For a time Lena worked nights as a keypunch operator at Barnes Hospital in St. Louis. After settling in Kirkwood, Missouri a second child was born in 1957, son Robbie Alan.

Tired of cold winters in the Midwest, Lena longed for warmer climes and better weather so in 1960 the family pulled up roots and moved to southern California, settling in the small town of Corona. As the children grew and progressed through years of schooling, she worked in secretarial jobs, eventually being chosen for a promotion to personnel assistant for A. M. Lewis in Riverside.

Over time, changes occurred in the marriage and she relocated to the El Toro/Lake Forest area, near her favorite place: by the water on the shores of the Pacific Ocean in Orange County, California.

When her daughter moved to Colorado some years later, she was invited to follow. Eventually she decided to do so (despite returning to cold winters again.) Always a lover of music and dancing, she met a nice man at a dance, and from there romance blossomed and they married. They spent winters in Las Vegas and summers in Colorado. When he passed away 16 years later, Lena continued living independently in a senior living community in Littleton, Colorado. She remained there until her death at age 90 on December 17, 2019.

Lena is survived by her two children (Kathy Lynn (Hennebelle) North and Robbie Alan Hennebelle) and four grandchildren: Cecily, Hollee, Andrew and Heidi, as well as three siblings, Helen, Bob and Glen. Her family and friends will miss her beautiful and generous spirit, her blue, blue eyes, her smile, her wave, her love and thoughtful concern for others. She is in the arms of her heavenly Father, at rest and at peace. As she liked to say "God bless!"

Funeral Service will be held on Saturday, January 4, 2020 at 12:00PM at Drinkwine Family Chapel. Private burial will be at Littleton Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to her favorite charity, St. Jude Children's Hospital.

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