Kathryn Shaffer

Kathryn K. Shaffer passed away peacefully in her sleep on April 15th 2023, 5 days before her 96th birthday. She was preceded in death by Mac, her husband of 48 years. She is survived by her three sons David Shaffer, Ted Shaffer (Marianna) and Jack Shaffer (Ellen), and daughter Gayle Stone(Chris). Five grandchildren, Nick Shaffer, Natalie Stone, Anne Stone, Dean Shaffer (Hannah), and Julia Shaffer.

Born and raised in Toledo, Ohio in a close knit family of six siblings, Kathryn, Katie to her family, excelled in school with a particular fondness for the drama club. This fondness for the theater in high school, and later college, would not be a surprise to anyone who knew Kathy well. She cherished social gatherings, particularly celebrations with her family, and loved the spotlight. Kathy was engaging and loved to talk, she was also funny, a great listener, and smart as a whip! Her scholastic efforts earned her acceptance to The Ohio State University by way of the Alumnae Scholarship House; while living at ASH she met lifelong friends, including her future husband Mac that helped shape her life for the next seven decades. She was pleased her granddaughter followed in her footsteps living in ASH 60 years later.

Kathy married Mac O. Shaffer in Toledo, Ohio, December of 1948 after both recently graduated from Ohio State. Mac with a degree in journalism, and Kathy with a BA in Education and a minor in history. She taught fourth and fifth grades in Hilliard, Ohio while her husband worked for a local newspaper in Columbus, Ohio. Around this time Kathy and one of her best friends from ASH co-founded the OSU Alumni Figure Skating Club. She loved to skate with her husband and friends, on some nights all the members’ children would enjoy evenings skating at the OSU Ice Rink.

Kathy also helped create Around the World in Art and Song, a summer camp to teach cultural and diversity awareness to young children and teens. Visiting professors and grad students from different countries were invited to teach and display art, music, and dance from their native countries. Participation of the attending children was always encouraged, as classes were lively, informative and fun.

Kathy’s passion for teaching continued after the last of four children were off to school, she returned to her chosen profession and spent the next 20 years employed as a home tutor for the Columbus Board of Education. She home tutored children with medical conditions that kept them from attending regular classes. Teen pregnancy, children with terminal cancer, and psychological trauma victims were some of the challenges that she faced as a tutor, she willingly responded to a need.

The achievement Kathy was most proud of was her involvement in a pilot program instituted by the Worthington Public School system. The program was named Circle of Grandparents. Seniors in the community were enlisted to spend time in participating classrooms teaching themed lessons that reinforced a predetermined word of the month. For example, character invoking words like empathy, integrity, and tolerance were chosen. The seniors then built lesson plans to forge a connection between a word and real world life experiences of the children. Kathy was a founding member and proudly served for nearly 20 years, till after age 90! She often said it was the most rewarding work she ever did.

For her involvement as a founding member, in 2011 Kathryn K Shaffer was inducted into the Ohio Senior Citizen Hall of Fame at an awards ceremony at the Riffe Center in downtown Columbus. As of 2011, out of all Ohio residents, only 350 persons received that honor since its inception in 1977. It wasn’t until she received a congratulatory letter from President Obama that it dawned on her maybe it was “kind of a big deal”.

Kathy led a storied life. For many years she attended writing classes at the Griswold Center in Worthington, Ohio where she relished sharing stories among her good friends there. She spent many hours at home working on short stories, musings, and her beloved tales of Belinda the Ghost Witch. Earlier in life, Kathy discovered a particular penchant and skill for writing limericks. To know Kathy well came with a risk of seeing your personality traits ending up in rhyming 5-7 line prose; it was the ultimate compliment. A book of some of her best limericks, with illustrations by Marianna Shaffer, was published in 2020 and available on Amazon.com.

Kathy achieved much in life, but most people will simply remember her keen sense of humor, and that twinkle in her eye as she lovingly teased you, and how she loved to tease! They will remember that she loved to chat, and was quick to put people at ease in conversation. They will remember how she really enjoyed a good party. Themed New Year’s Eve parties, 4th of July, Christmas, birthdays, and especially Thanksgiving, she loved being with family and friends. She loved to bake, and to garden, though not exactly a green thumb, and could often be spotted in a stained sweatshirt with fun sayings or animals. She liked to wear costume jewelry and she liked winning in solitaire and beating anyone foolish enough to play cribbage with her.

Kathy had a lifelong passion for learning and for sharing that knowledge with others. She was first and always a teacher, and extremely skilled at sneaking in life lessons to her students, children and friends, often without them realizing it. Her zest for life and curiosity was infectious, she had an optimistic attitude that kept her focused on the future and never pinned for the good old days. Kathy will be dearly remembered and greatly missed by all who knew this remarkable woman.