Emma Marie Shafer, 24, community organizer, died July 11, 2023. A Springfield native born on April 13, 1999, she graduated from Springfield High School, received an associate degree in political science at Lincoln Land Community College, and earned a bachelor’s degree in urban studies from the New School in New York City. She was the membership chair of the Sierra Club Sangamon Valley Group, an incoming board member for the Springfield Immigrant Advocacy Network, a former organizer with Faith Coalition for the Common Good, and an active volunteer with countless other community groups.
She was known for her big hugs, bright smile, thrifted clothes, writing beautiful poetry and newspaper editorials, and her ability to make each individual feel like the most important person in the world. She used these relationships to enact change and had the fierce ability to hold others accountable. She channeled her inner child when caring for and playing with kids, especially with her niece and nephews. Though she was intensely passionate about her activism, Emma always kept her funky, goofy, larger-than-life spirit. The only love Emma knew was unconditional.
From early childhood, Emma pursued twin passions – theater and social justice – and found ways to make those overlap. Emma had her breakout role in Dear Edwina, Jr at Springfield Theatre Center in 2010. Her favorite roles were ones that matched her values. Having educated herself about the Holocaust starting in third grade, Emma starred in The Diary of Anne Frank at Theatre in the Park in New Salem in 2014 and returned to that story earlier this year as Eva Geiringer in And Then They Came for Me: Remembering the World of Anne Frank at University of Illinois Springfield. She also played her dream role of Mother in Ragtime at Springfield High School (2017), a powerful woman with incredible moral fiber. Emma also worked behind the scenes in numerous productions directing, lighting and organizing shows. Emma was attracted to “activist theater,” because she believed it “pushes people towards humanity.”Emma was a lifelong activist. Even as a child, she tended to go sit with the kid eating lunch alone and recruit her friends to join them. She recognized inequities in the way certain classmates were treated and spoke up to ask adults to realize the harm they were causing. As a teenager, she participated in several youth service projects with Westminster Presbyterian Church, such as helping repair homes for low-income families in Appalachia and later joined the Appalachian Service Project staff. Emma was very involved in public office, serving as an intern in the office of U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth, as a fellow in the New York City Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, and a committee clerk at the Illinois House of Representatives. At the time of her death, she was making special concoctions and connections at The Wakery. She had just been hired to work for M.H. Action, where she was looking forward to advocating for the rights of people who live in manufactured homes.
Emma loved to travel, making trips for both pleasure and service to California, New York, Europe and South Africa. But she was committed to her hometown of Springfield, and passionate about the concept of Planning to Stay –the idea that every decision made today should be driven by how it will affect future generations. Her current focus was educating the public about the harmful effects of the CO2 pipeline, an energy resource plan for CWLP and remediation of the coal ash ponds, and developing a food co-op/community center to serve Springfield’s east side. Her long-term plans included hosting redlining tours, to explain the history and impact of racially discriminatory city planning in Springfield.
Her favorite part of organizing was canvassing – going door-to-door and meeting people to hear and address any concerns they had, always working towards a more equitable community. She held hour-long one-on-one meetings with anyone who had a cause, usually scheduling those meetings at a downtown local business. She hosted weekly “soup night” gatherings in her home, bringing together advocates she believed needed to know each other.
She is survived by her parents, Mary C. “Cathy” Schwartz and John M. Shafer; her sisters, Michelle B. “Shelley” (Zach) Brown and Kathryn L. “Katie” Drew) deMarco; grandmother, Patricia Shafer; nieces and nephews, Carter, Leo, and Henry deMarco, Ava and Emma Brown; and numerous aunts, uncles, cousins and friends. She was preceded in death by grandparents Frank “Beaver” and Mary “Fran” Schwartz, and grandfather, Robert Shafer.
Visitation and Funeral Service: The visitation is scheduled for Friday, July 21, from 9–11 a.m. at First Presbyterian Church with the service to follow at 11 a.m. View livestream service on Emma’s page at StaabObituary.com.
In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to the Emma Shafer Peace and Justice Fund through the Community Foundation for the Land of Lincoln: https://cfll.org/Giving/Make-a-Donation. To honor Emma’s memory, we can all work to continue her missions: to create thriving communities, to embrace each other with kindness always, to fill our spaces and times with love, laughter, arts, and music.
