LANCASTER, BETH ELLEN SCHEURER - 42, of Signal Mountain, TN, passed away, July 28, 2011 at Erlanger Medical Center after a brief but courageous battle with cancer. Beth was born on April 12, 1969 in Knoxville, TN to Philip and Nancy Scheurer. She leaves behind a legacy of caring and compassion that will forever be remembered by those many people whose lives she touched. In addition to her parents, Beth is survived by three beloved children: Madeleine Anne Lancaster, 14, Allison Julia Lancaster, 10, and Michael Aaron Lancaster, 9, all of Signal Mountain; two brothers, Philip Christian Scheurer and wife Genie, Charlotte, NC, Mark Alexander Scheurer and wife Danielle, Charleston, SC; three nieces, Avery, Leddy and Margaret; two nephews, Philip and Bowen; aunt, Margot Ferullo and husband, Michael of Manasquan, NJ and several cousins. She is preceded in death by her grandparents, Philip and Beatrice Scheurer and Edward and Gertrude Dieckmann all of New Jersey and her great aunt, Julia Gioia. Beth attended Sacred Heart School in Knoxville and graduated from Knoxville Catholic High School in 1987. Beth attended the University of Tennessee in Knoxville where she was a member of the Zeta Tau Alpha Sorority and Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing in 1993. Prior to receiving a Masters of Nursing Degree from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in 2008, she worked for 16 years as a registered nurse in the Neuro Intensive Care Unit as a Certified Nurse Practitioner with the Neurosurgical Group of Chattanooga, PC. A skilled and dedicated nurse, Beth loved her job, loved caring for her patients and loved working with her many friends and colleagues at the Neurosurgical Group of Chattanooga and at Erlanger Medical Center, to whom her family is particularly grateful for their care and support during Beth's illness. Beth was a woman of great compassion, gentle kindness and sincerity. She loved her children to whom she devoted her life. Beth was warm and kind, with a quick and quiet wit. She was the kindest and gentlest of souls who was taken from us all far too soon. A service of Christian Burial to celebrate Beth's life will be held at 2 p.m. Monday, August 1, 2011 at St. Timothy's Episcopal Church, Signal Mountain with the Rev. Kathryn C. Mathewson officiating. The family will receive friends in the church fellowship hall following the service. An interment service will be held at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, August 2, 2011, in the Highland Memorial Park, 5315 Kingston Pike, Knoxville with Rev. Monsignor Xavier Mankel officiating. The family wants to thank Beth's special friends Laura BeVille and Marie Viall and longtime friend, Julie Bowen Kirkpatrick, as well as many nursing colleagues. Memorial contributions may be made to the College of Nursing at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Dept. 1051, 615 McCallie Avenue, Chattanooga, TN 37403, designated for the Beth Ellen Lancaster Prize to be given annually to support working mothers enrolled in the family nurse practitioner graduate program. Arrangements are by the East Chapel of Chattanooga Funeral Home, Crematory & Florist, 404 S. Moore Road.