Gary Dean Schaaf

Gary was a dear, dear friend of mine, all the way back to our UNM days. This is the 1st time I have seen his obituary. I miss him a lot & his great greetings to me during the holidays, especially his Mother's Day cards to me each year!! May he be resting in a beautiful, eternal peace. I love him always & think of him often.

I met Gary when we were both in the Speech-Theatre Department at Kearney (he always joked about Dance being in Speech). By the end of my first year we not only respected each other as colleagues (and went on to collaborate in my second and third years on poetry and dance performances), but had bonded as friends--two city-suburban boys from Detroit and Chicago not quite sure what we were doing in Kewarney! I left after my third year, but we remained friends until the end of his life--I spoke...

I was so sorry to hear this news. I knew Gary when we were both at the University of Michigan pursuing our masters degrees. Gary was a beautiful dancer and a wonderful partner. In this photo, we are dancing together in a piece choreographed by the department chair, Elizabeth Weil Bergmann. I send my deepest condolences to Gary's family and friends.

Gary was my dance instructor in college and always knew what to say to encourage me to do better. His energy and smile were contagious, and he was so alive when he danced. His Dance appreciation class opened up a whole new world to me. He will be greatly missed.

I had Mr. Schaaf for an instructor in an elective class (dance appreciation) at KSC, I was never interested in dance and took the class because I had no other option. Mr. Schaaf made this class interesting as he taught with love and passion, he cared about the students and made certain each of us walked out with something we could remember. What I remember is Mr. Scaff ended up being the best teacher I have ever had the experience of knowing, he was truly a remarkable educator and person. I...