Cherise Marie Schaffer

She was born November 7th, 1975 in Mesa, Arizona and most recently resided in Stafford, TX. She is survived by her father, Gary Schaffer; a sister, Betty Schweikert; her husband, Windell Donnelle Ivey; her children Markel Schaffer, Murysa Arnold & Mieyah Ivey; step children, BreAnna Ivey, Wendell Ivey Jr., Darius Ivey & Bianca Ivey; and many nieces, nephews and cousins and extended family & friends whom she considered family.

Cherise was so much to so many but first and foremost she was a child of God. She was a wonderful & loving wife, mother, sister, daughter and friend.

Cherise made certain that every opportunity for a celebration, whether it be a holiday or birthday, there would most definitely be a celebration. Today as we join together to celebrate this wonderful life that impacted all of us in many different ways, she would want it to be just that…A CELEBRATION!

Today and every day moving forward we should remember Cherise with her bright & beautiful smile. She gave it to us daily wether it be in person or on social media. Let us all celebrate her today so much that we can her her joyful voice screaming YAAAAASSSSS HONEY!!!!

Tracey Kimberly Atwood, one of Cherise’s many best friends wrote the following and it truly captures her in a way that must be shared.

A tribute to the life of my best friend Cherise Marie Schaffer

As I do have the desire to tell you of the journey and friendship I shared with Cherise, right now I just want to talk about Cherise. I was searching my heart and my head for the word that describes Cherise. Of course when we think of Cherise we all think of her beauty. She's authentic, loving, creative, passionate, honest and so many wonderful things but when Cherise is involved what describes her best is EXTRA. She always had EXTRA room in her home, an EXTRA plate at the dinner table, EXTRA time when you needed to talk, and EXTRA love for everyone she met. She had EXTRA kids, EXTRA dogs, EXTRA clothes and God knows EXTRA shoes. Her shoes came with EXTRA inches and she had EXTRA eyelashes. If you knew her well we were going to cry EXTRA, laugh EXTRA, get EXTRA loud and stay up EXTRA late. She always needed one more minute and had one more thing to say. She had EXTRAordinary faith, lived an EXTRAordinary life and loved in an EXTRAordinary way. She never had friends because she only knew to love extreme so to her everyone was family. Even her Ex’s, Ex’s were family. She loves her husband Wendell Ivey Sr. Her sister Betty Schweikert and her children, grandchildren, nieces and great nephew so deeply and always made little adventures and the special moments count. She had EXTRA best friends, EXTRA nieces and EXTRA nephews. She left EXTRA early and to be honest that makes me EXTRA sad. She packed a lot of life into the time she had here. She was my soul sister and I extend my love to those that she loved so I encourage you to Live EXTRA, love EXTRA and don't forget what our EXTRA friend taught us.