Introduction

Biography

William was the son of John W. Schae­fer, and hus­band of Pen­cy C. Pal­mer.

He was edu­cat­ed at North­wes­tern Pre­pa­ra­to­ry School (now Lu­ther Pre­pa­ra­tory School), Wa­ter­town, Wis­con­sin, and Con­cor­dia Se­mi­na­ry, Spring­field, Il­li­nois (school moved to Ft. Wayne, In­di­ana, in 1976).

After gra­du­at­ing in 1913, he be­came pas­tor of Zi­on Church in Gar­ris­on, Ne­bras­ka. In 1919, he ac­cept­ed a call to Zi­on Church in Co­lome, South Da­ko­ta, followed by a call in 1929 to or­gan­ize a mis­sion in north­west Mil­wau­kee, Wis­con­sin.

His ef­forts in Mil­wau­kee were in­stru­ment­al in form­ing the Atone­ment Con­gre­ga­tion. He served as pas­tor there, 1930–70, then as its Vi­si­ta­tion Pas­tor for three more years.

Schaefer be­came as­so­ci­ate ed­it­or of The North­west­ern Lu­ther­an in 1935, joined its ed­i­tor­i­al board in 1936, and served as its man­ag­ing ed­it­or, 1939–57.