Obituary of Sarah Jane Guenther

Sarah Jane Guenther passed away on Wednesday, April 11, 2018, four days after celebrating her 97^th birthday.  Known always as Jane, she was born to Thomas and Avis Botts Schindler on April 6, 1921 in Kansas City, MO and spent her childhood and early adulthood in Rock Island, IL, first employed at Bituminous Casualty, an insurance company. In 1943, she moved to Salt Lake City, Utah and began working at Denver & Rio Grande Railroad.  Five years later she transferred to the engineering department in their Denver office and met Robert (Bob) William Guenther on her first day of work.  They married on May 19, 1950 in Denver, Colorado. 

Shortly after their daughter Deborah Anne was born, Jane and Bob moved to the Rochester area, Bob’s hometown.  Two children, Christine Jane and Robert William, were born in Webster where Jane spent the rest of her life.  Jane devoted herself to family and enjoyed decades worth of family gatherings, neighborhood parties, handicrafts and bridge playing.  She worked as a clerk for the Town of Webster, retiring in the mid-1980s.  Her positive outlook and generous spirit were appreciated by friends and family.  She showed remarkable resiliency following the untimely death of her daughter, Christine and husband’s passing one month later, both in 2013.

Jane is survived by her daughter, Deborah (Bernard) Lischwe of Freeport, IL and son Robert (Jeanette) Guenther of Webster;  eight grandchildren, Nathaniel (Rebekah), Benjamin, and Anne Lischwe, Michael and Rachel Brienzo, Holly (Theodore) Rund, Stephen and Robert Guenther; three great grandchildren - Theodore and Connor Rund, and Eva Lischwe.  She is predeceased by her husband, Robert, daughter, Christine Brienzo, and infant son, Russell.

Friends are invited to her Memorial Service 10:30 AM Saturday, April 21, at Webster United Church of Christ Congregational, 570 Klem Rd., Webster, NY 14580, with a reception at the church to follow.  Memorials may be directed to the Church.