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She was a regular at the swimming pool at the YWCA of Lancaster for its water-exercise classes, which kept her in shape and also "aren't as hard on your joints," the 81-year-old said.
But the YWCA pool was closed two years ago, needing repairs to fix leaking underground stormwater pipes.
And last week, the YWCA board of directors had to make a difficult decision regarding both the 90-year-old pool and the health and fitness classes the organization offers.
Marking "the end of an era," the YWCA board voted at its Nov. 12 meeting to discontinue offering the health/fitness classes after the winter term finishes in February.
It also will not be re-opening the pool, a downtown institution to many over the years.
It was "not an easy decision to make," YWCA Executive Director Maureen Powers wrote in a letter to YWCA health and fitness members.
"However, there are some harsh financial realities that cannot be ignored," with many funding allocations being cut to zero and "too many alternative, modern and better-equipped fitness centers in the area," Powers wrote.
Regarding the pool, the executive director wrote "extensive inspections by specialist engineers and architects (found) that it would cost an unacceptable amount to complete the necessary repairs and bring it up to code."
Even if the pool was able to be rehabilitated, she wrote, the YWCA would have to charge so much for its use that it would be unaffordable for the people it serves.
Generations of county residents have learned to swim at the indoor pool, which was the largest in the state when it opened just after World War I.
So "it is with a heavy heart that I am relaying this news. In many ways it's the end of an era," Powers wrote.
"But circumstances change, and hard though it is, we must adapt ourselves to change with them as we continue to further the YW mission with our core services" of empowering women and eliminating racism, Powers added.
And, the health and fitness program isn't disappearing altogether, she pointed out.
The YWCA's nationally recognized senior exercise program still will be available through a collaboration with the Lancaster County Office of Aging, and the YWCA will continue to maintain its personal physical fitness center for workouts with weights and other equipment.
And former YWCA instructors will be able to rent space and give private lessons in the gym.
Until the pool closed, Schaeffer had been going there since 1990.
She has switched to using the pool at the YMCA of Lancaster, but still misses the YW classes and the other regulars, women and some men, she would see there.
"We had a lot of good times together," she said, "and I miss that."
