Bernice E. Thatcher Schaal, 98, of Jefferson, Iowa, died November 16, 2008, at the Greene County Medical Center, Jefferson, Iowa.
           
Funeral services will be held 10:30 am Thursday, November 20, 2008 at the First United Methodist Church, Jefferson, Iowa with Rev. Sheri and Bill Daylong officiating. Visitation will be after 9:00 am on Wednesday, November 19, 2008 at Slininger-Rossow Funeral Home in Jefferson with the family present to greet friends from 6:30 to 8:00 pm.  Mrs. Schaal has donated her body to the University of Iowa Medical School.  Burial will be at a later date at North Lawn Cemetery in Fort Dodge, Iowa.
           
Bernice Eleanor Brand was born July 21, 1910 in Fort Dodge, Iowa, the daughter of Emily (Thompson) and Herbert Brand.  Bernice attended schools in Fort Dodge, graduating from Fort Dodge High School in 1928.  She attended junior college (now ICCC) for one year, and received her teaching degree from Iowa State Teacher’s College (now UNI) in 1931.  She taught kindergarten in Cedar Falls, Iowa, from March 1931 until June 1934.  She was united in marriage to Dr. Wilbur C. Thatcher, on June 26, 1934.  They lived in Iowa City, Iowa, until 1937, when they returned to Fort Dodge where Dr. Thatcher practiced medicine for 33 years.  After his retirement, they moved to their Woman Lake, Minnesota home, where they spent the summers.  They wintered in Mission, Texas, Florida, and Mazatlan, Mexico.  Dr. Thatcher died in Rochester, Minnesota in 1980.
           
On September 22, 1981, Bernice was united in marriage to Carroll W. Schaal, Sr. at the Methodist Chapel in Pequot Lakes, Minnesota, and they made their home in Jefferson, Iowa.  In 1992 they moved to the Ever Greene Ridge Retirement Home.  C.W. Schaal died September 22, 1994, on their 13th wedding anniversary.
           
Bernice was a member of the Fort Dodge Women’s Club since 1942; a 63 year member of the National TTT Society, a member of Chapter CZ of PEO, a lifelong member of First United Methodist Church and a member of UM Women.
           
Bernice Schaal is survived by two daughters, Barbara Lyall and her husband Gary, Willowbrook, Illinois; JoAnne Carney and husband Terry, Indian Wells, California; a son, William J. Thatcher and his wife Carol, Fort Dodge, Iowa; a step-son, Bill Schaal and his wife Betty, Jefferson, Iowa; grandchildren Jeff Lyall and his wife Karen, Suwanee, Georgia; Bruce Lyall and his wife Susie, Shorewood, Minnesota; George Lyall and his wife Rebecca, Delavin, Wisconsin; Stephanie Cook, Bainbridge Island, Washington; Tom Cook and his wife Patty, Jackson, Wyoming; Amy Thatcher, Denver, Colorado; and Scott Thatcher and his wife Duree, Spencer, Iowa; great grandchildren, Eric and Alyssa Lyall; Kaitlyn and George Lyall; Emily and Grace Lyall; Jaimie and Taylor Ahlquist; Colman and Bradford Cook; and Lily and Charlie Thatcher; step grandchildren, Laura Brones and her husband Lynn, Johnston, Iowa; Samantha Schaal and Roger Zimmerman, Cedar Falls, Iowa; and Carroll W. Schaal, III and his wife Pam, Mt. Horeb, Wisconsin; and step great grandchildren, John, Anna and Peter Schaal; Brock and Brent Brones; and Zack and Holly Zimmerman; and sister-in-law Helen Brand, McAllen, Texas.
           
Preceding Bernice in death were her parents; her brother Don V. Brand of McAllen, Texas; her husband Dr. Wilbur C. Thatcher, his sister Mildred Warren Hetzel and his brother Dr. Don Thatcher; and her husband, Carroll W. Schaal.
           
Memorials are suggested to the First United Methodist Church, Jefferson, Iowa; Greene County Medical Center Foundation and Genesis.