Verona Mallory

Verona Nelda Schaeffer Mallory, 88, of Derby, Indiana passed away on Friday, August 22, 2025, in Evansville, with her family by her side.

Verona was born in New Boston, Indiana on February 18, 1937, on the heels of the Ohio River Flood; the flood level is still marked at the waterfront in Derby. She was the first of four daughters born to Edgar and Millicent (Lautner) Leistner.

She attended Dale High School and graduated in 1954. It was love at first sight when she pulled up to the service station and the pump assistant was Joseph M. Schaeffer. They married in 1957. Together they were active Jaycees, band parents, and churchgoers. When their children were young, Verona worked as a bookkeeper at Frederick’s Dime on Main Street in Tell City. She was active in the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League, and she assisted all her children in 4-H, as well as her sons' sports leagues. Verona raised her younger children as a single mother after Joe’s death in 1979.

Verona became a well-respected seamstress in the community, the go-to for everything from hemming slacks to handmade bridesmaids’ dresses. In 1989, Verona married Cecil Mallory, who would remain by her side the rest of her life. She also worked at Saint Meinrad’s Abbey Press mail room for many years, and as a secretary and cabin cleaner for Ohio River Cabins. Her hobbies included gardening, canning, playing euchre (a tradition passionately continued by the boys in her family at Christmastime reunions), and mowing acres of grass on her property. She remained a dedicated Christian and was an esteemed figure at Tell City’s Emmanuel Lutheran Church.

She was preceded in death by her parents, first husband Joe, sister Paulette Leistner, brothers-in-law Neil Mulzer and James Shultz, and son-in-law Richard “Leon”Cooper. She is survived by her husband of 36 years, Cecil; sisters Bettye Lou Shultz and Naomi Mulzer; children Jo Lynn Cooper, Brenda Emge, Kelly (Kandy) Schaeffer, Kevin Schaeffer, and stepdaughter Stacy (TJ) Ice; 11 grandchildren; and a bushel of great-grandchildren.

Funeral Services will be held on Thursday at 1:00pm on August 28, 2025, at Emmanuel Lutheran Church, with burial to follow in Greenwood Cemetery. Visitation will be from 11:00am to service time at the church.

Memorial contributions may be made to Lutheran Women's Missionary League, Emmanuel Music Fund, or Emmanuel Seminary Fund.

Condolences may be left at zoercher-gillickfuneralhome.com

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