Turnerville March 26th, 2010 Death: On March 26, Bruce Schaefer, 74, a lifelong Atlanta stockbroker who had retired to his childhood mountain haunts, shot his sleeping wife, Nancy Schaefer, 73, a former state senator and conservative political activist. Then he pointed the 38-caliber handgun toward himself.
The Schaefers were dead when their daughter discovered them in the bedroom of their Habersham County home. Investigators found a suicide note, as well as notes for each of the couple’s five children. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation, which is looking into the issue, is emphatic. “This is as clear-cut a case of murder-suicide as you’ll see,” said spokesman John Bankhead. According to Bankhead, the state agency will conclude its inquiry after conducting a few more interviews and administering some toxicological tests, which is usual procedure in death situations.
People still chat, though. They discuss a couple who were rarely apart, as well as a woman who rose to prominence for her outspoken opposition to abortion and excessive child protective services. They discuss her husband, who tried but failed to ignore his wife’s critics as well as she did. Nancy Schaefer was a multitasker before the phrase was invented. She was married and living in Buckhead, with five children. But activism pulled.
In 1985, she organized a rally in Atlanta in support of constitutional rights. A year later, she founded the charity Family Concerns Inc., which promotes the display of the Ten Commandments, opposes abortion, and opposes what it considers too aggressive child custody agencies. She worked on Jack Kemp’s unsuccessful GOP presidential campaign in 1988. In later years, she unsuccessfully ran for mayor of Atlanta, lieutenant governor, and governor of Georgia.
Those initiatives elevated her status as a conservative capable of delivering an eloquent response. In 2002, she was a regular on “Woman to Woman,” a weekly feature in the Sunday Atlanta Journal-Constitution that represented both left and right viewpoints. Bruce retired in 1996. He and his wife, like many other wealthy Atlantans, relocated to the mountains. Her political tenacity paid off.
In 2004, Nancy Schaefer won the first of two state Senate elections. She lost to Jim Butterworth in 2008, and he now occupies the seat. In the meantime, she stayed involved in other causes. She represented the Southern Baptist Convention in United Nations sessions. She founded several charitable organizations and became a trustee at Toccoa Falls College. She sung in the choir of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Toccoa. She made dedicated friends and furious foes.
Bruce? He was her friendly shadow. Photos show a towering man with an athlete’s build — he played football at Clemson before joining the Army — smiling almost as large as he is. “You hardly ever saw one without the other,” said Robert “Buster” Smith, whom Bruce frequently saw when Nancy traveled to town from her Clarkesville home to get her hair done.
Smith, a Toccoa native, ran across Bruce Schaefer on the last Tuesday of his life when he came by his furniture store. “He seemed like his old self,” Smith added. “I have a hard time believing it happened like it happened.”
The Schaefers lived in The Orchard, a private country club enclave located about 15 miles northwest of Toccoa in Habersham County. It’s tucked off a winding road, where historic wooden barns shine in the sunlight. Some of Nancy’s efforts were carried out from their house. She produced numerous internet essays on themes ranging from the Obama administration’s health-care policy to the potential biblical significance of solar eclipses. Her most recent piece, in which she criticized the implantation of microchips in humans, ran on February 17.
The Schaefers’ children will have a difficult time cleaning up the house, according to Habersham Sheriff Joey Terrell, whose officers arrived first on the scene following the shootings. “There’s a house that’s full of stuff to take care of,” he told me.
At the couple’s funeral service on Wednesday afternoon, ushers counted more than 800 guests. Mourners packed Ebenezer Baptist’s sanctuary, two choir rooms, and an adjacent building. Thirty state senators arrived on a rented bus from Atlanta. They viewed a slide display of family photos that highlighted pleasant moments: Bruce in his Army uniform; Bruce and Nancy twirling across the dance floor; children and grandchildren. The photos imparted on her the quiet dignity that comes with decades of life; he grew a little wider, his hair a little whiter, but his grin remained constant.
The Rev. Andy Childs advised people to focus on the Schaefers’ lives rather than their deaths. “The tragedy of the last several days … does not erase the testimony of their lives,” stated the pastor. Charlie Wysong, a family friend, traveled three hours from Chattanooga to attend the seventy-minute service. “When I heard about it, I couldn’t believe it at first,” he told me. “I said, ‘How out of character.’”
The announcement also temporarily halted state legislative activity. “It’s just a terrible tragedy,” said Republican Rep. Rick Austin of Demorest. “I don’t think anybody will ever really understand what happened.” Not what it seems? That does not prevent individuals from attempting. During the burial service, Rev. Childs mentioned that Bruce was taking medicine. Others discuss possible financial difficulties.
Conspiracy theorists have also been busy. They claim that the Schaefers were silenced by unknown forces as a result of their conservative beliefs. They claim that the person who shot Nancy also shot Bruce. Comments concerning a purported cover-up abound on websites. A Facebook page titled “We Demand An Extensive Investigation Into Senator Nancy Schaefer’s Death” has 988 fans Thursday afternoon. On Friday morning, it had 1,116.
The couple’s children, who may know the most about what happened, are remaining silent. Police will not say anything, either. As a result, people speculate and discuss. Mysteries with no clear explanations, such as vacant rooms, attract strange things. That does not prevent individuals from attempting. During the burial service, Rev. Childs mentioned that Bruce was taking medicine. Others discuss possible financial difficulties.
Conspiracy theorists have also been busy. They claim that the Schaefers were silenced by unknown forces as a result of their conservative beliefs. They claim that the person who shot Nancy also shot Bruce. Comments concerning a purported cover-up abound on websites. A Facebook page titled “We Demand An Extensive Investigation Into Senator Nancy Schaefer’s Death” has 988 fans Thursday afternoon. On Friday morning, it had 1,116.
Nancy Schaefer was a committed campaigner against corruption in “child protective services” in the USA. She and her husband were found shot dead in what was portrayed as a murder suicide.
Who Was Nancy S. Schaefer?
Georgia Senator Nancy Schaefer and her husband, Bruce Schaefer, were found dead at their home. Schaefer was born in Clayton, Georgia, and is of German origin. He attended the University of Georgia and the Atlanta College of Art. She then earned a bachelor’s degree from Wesleyan College.
Political Career: Schaefer rose to prominence as a conservative political activist in Georgia during the 1980s. She then ran for Mayor of Atlanta in 1993, before becoming the Republican Party’s nominee for Lieutenant Governor of Georgia in 1994, where she lost to incumbent Democrat Pierre Howard. She unsuccessfully sought the Republican candidacy for Governor in 1998, finishing third behind Guy Millner and Mike Bowers with 7.7% of the vote in the party’s primary. She was elected to the State Senate in 2004 for the northern 50th district, where she served until 2008, when she was defeated in a Republican primary by Jim Butterworth. She also ran for the Republican nomination for Georgia’s 10th congressional district against Paul Broun in 2008, but she dropped out before the primary election and lost her Senate seat in 2009.
Throughout her career as an activist and politician, she championed Christian conservative causes and opposed the Department of Child Protective Services (also known as the Department of Children and Families). After four years of inquiry, she released a report titled “The Corrupt Business of Child Protective Services” on November 16, 2007. Following the publication of the study, she stated in a news conference that it caused her to lose her job as a Georgia State Senator. She also strongly supported the Pro-Life agenda and was opposed to gay marriage. In order to show her Christian convictions, she advocated for the public exhibition of the Ten Commandments. She was a top official in the Baptist church, having previously served as First Vice President of the Georgia Baptist Convention.
