In Memoriam: Richard Curtis Shaffer, Part I

A version of this about my uncle was published in The Coloradoan.

Part I

Richard Curtis Shaffer passed peacefully after a short and unexpected battle with lung cancer on March 31, 2009. He celebrated his 70th birthday the week before.

There are many places he will be missed in Fort Collins. Perhaps on the city bus routes he drove for a decade till his retirement in September. From the seat of a bus you can see everything he said, the hope and promise of young fresh faces, and the fear and despair of the growing numbers of needy people.

He will be missed by some who read this paper, for the many letters and soapbox articles he has published here, always championing the cause of peace, the cause of justice, and the environment.

Richard credited his incredible self discipline to his Marine training. He enlisted at 17 and served on an aircraft carrier where he developed a love for the sea. He studied journalism for a time after his service was completed, and often felt more comfortable speaking with the pen than the spoken word.

At thirty, feeling that he was getting very old, he acquired a thirty foot sailboat, a book on navigation, and a sextant and a compass. He navigated by the stars from San Francisco to Honolulu. This journey led him to a very different journey.

Richard studied for the Priesthood, and was ordained in a non-sectarian teaching and service Order in 1971.

His ministry spanned 20 years officially, but certainly has been his foundation throughout his life. Richard started his work on the most notorious heroin dealing street corner in San Francisco at the time, in a broken down ex-brothel rented from the city for a dollar a year. In time it was evident that homelessness was not just a problem of alcoholics and drug addicts, but the women and children who were impacted by these problems. The first Raphael House came into being, again a rundown building rented from the city for a dollar a year. This was one of the first shelters for women and children in the nation. There was finally a place where women and children could find shelter from the storm. A newer Raphael House followed and continued from this humble beginning way beyond Richard's years of service, and continues to serve the city of San Francisco's families.

During those same years, Richard organized the small Christian Community with which he was associated to raise funds for Cambodian relief. The festival event, held at the Hall of Flowers in San Francisco was a great success. Its proceeds, combined with funds raised by Joan Baez, went to the refugee camps in Cambodia.

San Francisco saw the scourges of war first hand and was always flooded with refugees.

Richard, who never saw combat in the Marines, encountered it every day in the streets of San Francisco.

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