Edna Mae Kapfer

Edna Mae Kapfer went to be with her Lord on the morning of Friday, May 16, 2014, at The Grand Court in Mesa, Arizona where she had resided since October of 2008. She was 96 years old and succumbed as a result of her age. Edna was born to Daniel and Marcie (Speer) Alderton in Knox County, Missouri, on January 20, 1918, the eighth of nine children. She married William Edwin Kapfer on March 25, 1941. She had five children: Ernest, Linda, Cinda, Janie, and Betty.

Edna graduated from Wyaconda High School in 1937 and attended Kirksville State Teacher's College in Kirksville, Missouri, where she received her teaching certificate. She taught in a one-room country school before her marriage to Bill. While raising her children and helping manage a farm, she was a substitute teacher at the Fairmont School. Edna and Bill moved to Mesa, Arizona in June of 1960 where she worked for the Mesa Public Schools as a food handler for over 19 years. She retired from there in 1982.

She was lovingly known as "Little Edna" by her brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, and grandparents. As a young girl, she helped care for her grandfather before his death. In keeping with her strong sense of devotion to her family and taking care of those she loved very deeply, she cared for her own mother and father at her home until their deaths and also for two of her children before their deaths.

Edna was a devout Christian serving God first and then family and home. She lived by the Golden Rule and used the book of Proverbs as a guide for living a life directed by God's word. She was a faithful companion to her husband, whom she served alongside of throughout their marriage in church work, caring for others, doing missionary service, teaching children and adults, praying for the sick and afflicted, serving meals for special church functions, and showing kindness to those in need. She loved music, reading, working crossword puzzles, working in the yard, gardening, working in the neighbor's yard, doing things for others, and spending time with her family and extended family during holidays and other special family events.

She is survived by her daughters Cinda Nation of Mesa, AZ, and Janie Carnal of Prescott Valley, AZ; daughter-in-law Shirley Cameron (Ernest), and son-in-law Everett Diffine (Linda); grandchildren Michael Kapfer (Nancy), Phillip Nation, Jennifer Bryant, Ernest William Kapfer II, Roseann Tafoya, Renee Diffine, and Ashley Fontenot; great-grandchildren Brandon (Sadie) and Brittany Bryant, Paul, Jason, and Brandon Kapfer, and Kayla Parsons; 7 great-great-grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her loving husband Bill, son Ernest William, daughters Linda Carol and Betty Ann, her parents, and all 5 brothers and 3 sisters.

Visitation will be held at Green Acres Mortuary and Cemetery, 401 North Hayden Road, Scottsdale, AZ 85257, from 5:00-8:00 PM on Thursday, May 22, 2014. Memorial services will be held on Friday, May 23, 2014, at 9:30 AM at Green Acres Chapel and a graveside scriptural reading at 10:30 officiated by Rev. James Hayes.