Rona Gail Schaepman's Obituary
Rona Gail Schaepman, 76, passed away unexpectedly but peacefully in her sleep in the early hours of September 21, 2018 at the Rapidan residence of her close friend and caregiver, where she had lived since suffering a massive stroke in January 2005. A consummate journalist prior to that devastating event, she is best remembered locally for her historical columns and coverage of local news in the pages of the Culpeper News and Culpeper Star Exponent, as well as for her articles penned for various newspapers throughout the state. Rona was active in the Affairs of the Virginia Wine Association and a regular contributor to its publication, the Virginia Wine Gazette, and had many friends among the area's Vineyards owners and Vintners. She was also very active in the Culpeper Historical Society, Culpeper County Library, and other community and church groups, including Bible studies conducted at Culpeper United Methodist Methodist Church.
After receiving her degree at age 20 from the University of Chicago, Rona worked at a series of jobs in Chicago, including two publishing houses and the Encyclopedia Britannica, and served on the staff of U.S.Congressman A. B. Mikva, who was later a U.S. Appellate Court Judge and U.S. Senator. Her professional career was cut short in 1966 buy a near fatal auto accident which left her paralyzed and in recovery for the next three years, after which she went on to earn her master's degree in history at the University of Illinois, where she worked as primary researcher on noted historian Robert Remini's authoritative book "Age of Jackson". Rona moved to Washington D.C., where she worked at the Smithsonian Institution Museum of Natural History and for a year as personal aide to U.S. Senator Henry Gonzalez, and ultimately joined the team on the First Federal Congress Project, a research group affiliated with George Washington University and co-sponsored by the National Archives. Her abilities were quickly recognized and she assumed the duties of primary source researcher, examining, analyzing and correlating the voluminous but haphazard collection of handwritten documents, notes and personal diaries that recorded the day-to-day activities of the first U.S. Congress. After 18 months the research staff on that project was relocated to the Library of Congress, which suited Rona well since she lived only four blocks from that facility. The end product of the research conducted during Rona's tenure, “Journal of the First U. S. Congress," comprises the official Congressional history of that period.
Following her marriage, Rona and her husband moved to La Plata, Maryland, where she served as editor and contributed two Chapters to the official "History of Charles County." In November 1976 the Schaepmans moved to property in Culpeper County, purchased so that her husband could start a greenhouse business. In 1981 Rona gave birth to her son Charles. Sadly, the marriage ended in divorce and Rona raised Charles to adulthood and enabled him to attend and graduate from the University of Southern California. On January 5, 2005, just days after returning from Charles' USC graduation ceremony, she was struck down with a stroke. Although functionally tetraplegic and bedridden since that time, Rona remained cognitively unimpaired and despite only occasional depressive lapses, held fast to the belief she would one day recover. Her command of historical facts was encyclopedic; her sense of humor remained playful and at times almost puckish. Her boundless enthusiasm for life and the remarkable spirit of one so sharp of mind and keen of wit although trapped in a non-functioning body was tragic to behold, but an inspiration to all who knew her, a testament to her inner strength and amazing ability to survive unimaginable adversity with such good humor. Rona will be sorely missed.
She is survived by her son, Charles; sister, Judy Barrat; dear friend, Robert Briordy; and multiple nieces and nephews.
A memorial service will be held on Saturday, September 29, 2018 at 2 p.m. at Found and Sons Funeral Chapel, 850 Sperryville Pike, Culpeper, VA. Family and friends will be able to share memories of Rona during this time.
Found and Sons Funeral Chapel of Culpeper is serving the family.
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