People talk about what they prioritize, what’s important to them, so when Carma Schafer spoke about her husband, Harry, their combined family of three children and six grandchildren, it was clear that family is her top priority.

Carma was born in Wynnewood, Oklahoma and as a daughter of an oil man, they frequently moved, which came to be good practice for her future. She graduated from Midwest City, Oklahoma and went on to study business administration at a local business college. “But then I got married and had two children,” she said. Her husband was in the Air Force and that meant moving every three to four years. After divorcing, “I knew of Harry because he was also in the Air Force.” Carma set up single girlfriends with Harry, “but nothing ever happened. Then I asked him to help me with some business issues. He came over for dinner and,” she laughed, “he never left.” Carma and Harry have now been married for 37 years. “We have so much fun!”

With Harry, a retired Lt. Colonel who mostly worked on Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles, Carma moved frequently. “Harry had a consistent circle of people, but each time we moved, I had to meet a whole new group of friends.” That is likely the reason that today Carma is quick to connect to new folks through her enthusiastic and warm personality.

She laughed while recalling, when the Air Force has a soldier, “they get the spouse too,” she said, pointing to herself. “We were actually taught how to be a commander’s wife,” she said, rolling her eyes. “How to deal with grief, how to do public speaking.…”