W. Pressly Shafer, Jr.

Death is nothing at all---I have only slipped into the next room--I am I and you are you. Whatever we were to each other, that we are still. Call me by my old familiar name, speak to me in the easy way you always used. Put no difference into your tone, wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow. Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes we enjoyed together. Play, smile, think of me, pray for me. Let my name by the household word that it always was. Let it be spoken without effect, without the ghost of a shadow on it. Life means all that it ever meant. It is the same as it ever was--there is absolutely unbroken continuity. Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight? I am waiting for you, for an interval, somwhere very near, just around the corner--all is well!!!

Henry Scott Holland, 1847-1918

Oxford University.

W. Pressly Shafer, Jr., passed away peacefully at home, December 15, 2006, on the same land he lived his entire life and raised his four children. He was the son of Walter P. Shafer, Sr. and Marguerite Stevens Shafer. Born March 12, 1914, and had one sister, Ruth Shafer Mueller, who died in 1944. His Grandfather, A. H. Shafer, came to San Antonio in 1884 and founded A. H. Shafer Company. His maternal grandfather was born in San Antonio in 1870 whose parents came from County Cork in Ireland.

He attended Alamo Heights School, graduating from high school at Schreiner Institute. He studied Engineering at the University of Texas, graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Carnegie Institute of Technology in 1939. While at Carnegie, he was the President of Delta Tau Delta Fraternity.

In 1941, he married Margaret McCutchen Fauntleroy of Altavista, Virginia, whom he courted while attending Carnegie Institute in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania.

Pressly was registered by the State of Texas as a Professional Mechanical Engineer, Master Plumbing and Air Conditioning Engineer and employed as a Professional Engineer by the U.S. District Engineers at Fort Sam Houston, during World War II. He then went to work with his father where he became President and Owner until his retirement in 1983. Some of his projects included the Tower of America, multiple hospitals including one in Saudi Arabia, and power plants.

He was a Deacon for the First Presbyterian Church, member of San Antonio Rotary Club, American Arbitration Association, American Society of Heating and Ventilating Engineers, National Environmental Balancing Bureau, Mechanical Contractors Association, Associated Plumbing and Heating Contractors, San Antonio Country Club and the Texas Cavaliers.

He had a passion for hand crafting furniture, crosses, and toys for his family and friends. He passed his love for snow skiing to generations of Texans. He enjoyed tennis, golf and fishing. He also possessed a wonderful sense of humor. Never satisfied with the status quo, Pressly was always eager to embrace new challenges.

He was truly a "Man for all Seasons" who had an enthusiasm for life that will continue on through his family and many friends.

He is survived by his loving wife of sixty-five years, Margaret Fauntleroy Shafer, and their four children, Ruthie & Jimmy Cahill, Pressly & Kayrene Shafer, Susie Shafer, and Jimmy & Donna Shafer; grandchildren, Kelly & Terry Owen, Chacho & Dawn Cahill, Dane & Aaron Pratt, Press Shafer, IV, Courtney Niehaus, Samantha Shafer and Gini Shafer; and great grand children, Rebeckah Owen, Reagan Owen, Gage Owen, Lane Cahill and Carson Cahill.