Grandmother, teacher, devout Catholic, Harry Potter devotee

Stephani Jean Scherer, 81, of Noblesville, Indiana, died February 8 at Harbour Manor Care Center in Noblesville. She was born on November 5, 1944, to Theodore (Ted) and Carole (Ausman) Neward in Long Beach, California. Early in her life, she was known by the nickname, “Taffy,” which she got because her older brother by two years Lance could not pronounce Stephani.

“Stephani had a demeanor that always tried to look at the brighter side of life,” her family shared. “She taught both her children and her students to stand up for what they felt was right, and to see their commitments through. Steph made compassion and caring an integral part of her life; when her niece Keri was dying of cancer, Steph flew across the country to be with Keri and her family during a very difficult time.”

She attended Claremont High School, where she first met her husband, a friend of her brother’s, although they didn’t marry until much later. She spent many of her younger years involved with the Pomona YMCA, spending much of that time as a competitor on the YMCA swim team, gym activity leader, and as a camp counselor at the organization’s girls’ summer camps. She particularly enjoyed her time as a counselor in the beautiful mountains around Big Bear Lake. She enjoyed many hours of boating and water skiing, solving sudoku and crosswords, working on jigsaw puzzles, and sewing. “Stephani was a wonderful sketch artist and had recently started painting,” her family said.

She graduated from Cal Poly Pomona with a bachelor’s degree in education and went on to earn a Master of Arts degree in teaching from Marygrove College in Detroit. She was an elementary school teacher for many years; she taught for 12 years at Doña Merced Elementary School in Rancho Cucamonga, and for 18 years at Notre Dame Catholic School in Portsmouth, Ohio. “Many of her students have later commented how positively her teaching affected their lives and how fondly they remember her,” her family said. She also was involved with the Catholic Church, serving at one point as a deaconess in her home congregation in California.

“Stephani was a huge Harry Potter fan, going so far as to attend the opening of ‘The Wizarding  World of Harry Potter’ theme park at Universal Orlando in Florida,” her family said. She even had in her home a guest bedroom all decked out as her Harry Potter room. Ever the teacher, she said when the ‘Harry Potter’ book series came out that she was so pleased that the books were getting children to actually read again.”

She is survived by her husband of 41 years, Roger Scherer; son, Scott Michael (Stacy) Hinojos; daughter-in-law Keri (Tod) Hinojos; grandchildren, Miles, Henry, and Aron; brother, Lance (Donna) Neward; and sisters, Nancy (Paul) Jacobson and Allyson (Chuck) McKay.

In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her son, Tod Hinojos.

In lieu of flowers, the family has requested donations be made to the Disabled American Veterans organization, at ihelpveterans.org or The Catholic Association at thecatholicassociation.org.