Genelle Merle Hildreth Schafer passed away on March 27, 2026, four days shy of her 100th birthday, in Florida. She was born on March 31, 1926, in Enterprise, Alabama, the daughter of Pearl Lucille Cotton and Edward Homer Hildreth of Enterprise. She thought of Columbus as her "home". Her maternal grandparents were Charlie Dale Cotton and Eula Jane Belcher. Her paternal grandparents were Robert Henry Jackson Hildreth and Julia Spikes Hamner. Genelle married James Cox in April 1942, and later divorced. There were two children from that marriage, Sylvia, and Sherrill Ann. She married William Austin Schafer in 1955 in Orlando, and lived alternately in Orlando, Columbus, and Casselberry. She was predeceased by her parents, her daughter Sherrill Ann, her sisters Melba and Catherine, her baby sister Betty Joan, and her brothers Charles, Wilson and Don. She is survived by daughter Sylvia, many nieces and nephews. Interment was in Parkhill Cemetery, Columbus, Ga.
