Obituaries

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Sharon J. Knepper, 83, of Pandora passed away February 14, 2023 at Optimized Senior Living in Lebanon, Ohio. 

Services will be at 1:00 p.m., Monday, February 20, 2023 at Chiles-Laman Funeral & Cremation Services, Bluffton. Visitation will be on Monday from 11:00 a.m. -1:00 p.m. at the funeral home. 

Arrangements are incomplete at Chiles-Laman Funeral & Cremation Services, Bluffton.

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Alfred Mueller Basinger, 94, went home to be with his heavenly father on February 13, 2023 at Bridge Hospice Care Center, Findlay with his loving family at his side. Al was born December 3, 1928 in Bluffton to the late Marden and Minnie (Mueller) Basinger, who preceded him in death. On June 18, 1950 he married the love of his life, Joan Keller Basinger who survives.

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Ann Elizabeth Shumaker, age 90, formerly of Bluffton, Ohio, passed away Tuesday, February 7, 2023 in Kirtland, Ohio. Due to failing health, she had recently relocated to northeast Ohio to be near her granddaughter, Beth. 

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Sandra J.  Garmatter, 83, passed away February 7, 2023 at the Bridge Hospice Care Center, Bluffton. Sandy was born July 17, 1939 in Bowling Green to the late Loren and Margaret (McGuire) Bassitt. On October 31, 1959 she married Leland Garmatter who preceded her in death on August 21, 2015. 

Sandy was a graduate of Beaverdam High School. She retired from Bluffton Schools where she was a secretary.  Sandy was a member of Emmanuel United Church of Christ, Bluffton.  She enjoyed playing cards and spending time with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  

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UPDATED with additional family members.

Corrinne Catherine Boehr, 91, passed away February 4, 2023, at Willow Ridge - Betty House of Mennonite Home Communities of Bluffton.

Corrinne was born March 23, 1931 in Long Beach, CA, to Orville and Margaret (Hartman) Kamp, who preceded her in death. Her parents and she moved back to Washington, IL where she was raised and lived until her marriage on October 28, 1951 to Richard J. Boehr. They lived in and raised four sons in Bluffton, Ohio. 

Corrinne was a graduate of Washington Community High School, Washington, Illinois and attended Bluffton University for one year. She became a homemaker and over time, worked for Dr. Earl Lehman, head of the music department of Bluffton College at the time. In the early '80s she became an office assistant for a local dentist. In 1987 she took a job as office assistant for Dr. Mark Steinmetz, MD in Bluffton and she retired in 1997.

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LONGMONT, Colo.--Barbara Jean “BJ” Suter, 74, died January 13, 2023 at Longs Peak Hospital in Longmont after a private year-and-a-half long battle with breast cancer, accompanied shortly before her death by her long-time friend and housemate David Coile.

BJ was born August 9, 1948 in Dayton, Ohio to Dale and Helen Suter and spent her early years in Centerville, south of Dayton. At the age of four, she knocked out her front tooth on her family’s piano and began her musical career.

After the family moved to Troy, Ohio in 1956, she mastered the piano and later joined the high school band and learned the flute, violin, sousaphone and tenor drum—though the guitar soon became her primary instrument. She then explored choral music, winning a state music competition with a 6-voice ensemble, and was named “Most Valuable Musician” her senior year. From there she went on to earn degrees in music, art and German from Bluffton College in 1970.

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