Richard “Dick” William Shaffer passed away on Jan. 17. He was born on Dec. 2, 1936 in Laramie. He spent a great deal of his younger years living on their grandfather’s ranch on the Sybille Creek near Iron Mountain. Several Shaffer families lived here, and the cousins played and got to know each other. Growing up in Wyoming, he said that he didn’t think there was any other way to make a living except by being a cowboy, until he was about 24 years old.
In 1955, Richard married Wilma Blunck and they had five children. He later attended Manhattan Christian College in Kansas. It was in Kansas that Dick drove truck to deliver feed to surrounding farms. In 1960, the family moved to Laramie where Dick went to work for the Police Department. He and his brother, Ralph, headed for Alaska in Spring of 1967. Here, Dick worked for the Sitka Police.
Dick met and married Margee on Sept. 11, 1968 in Sitka. Shortly after they married, Dick transferred to Petersburg, where he was Chief of Police for several years. He and Margee returned to Sitka in 1973 where he went back to work for the Police Department in Sitka. He was shot in the line of duty in January 1974. This meant he had to give up his career as a police officer. Since a career in law had always been in the back of his mind he went back to school at Willamette College of law. He passed the Bar Exam in Anchorage, and practiced law in Alaska both in Anchorage and Ketchikan. In November of 1990 he opened his own office in Ketchikan where he practiced until he retired in 2006 at the age of 69. He and Margee were forced to move to Oregon in the summer of 2008 to be near good hospitals. He liked to sum up his career as the three C’s, Cowboy, Cop and Counselor.
Dick is survived by his wife, Margee, children; Charles Shaffer, Thomas Shaffer, Rollo Shaffer, Janice Stafford, Marie Wetherall, David Holt, and Daniel Holt, as well as 17 grandchildren and 12 great grandchildren.
Services were held on Saturday, Jan. 25, at the Dayton Christian Church. To leave condolences, please visit www.macyandson.com.
