John Newhall Schaefer

Spending six years as a classmate of John at Nobles, I cannot remember a nicer guy. He was a quiet, gentle soul with a wonderful sense of humor and certainly one of the top scholars of our class. It is not surprising that he made such a notable contribution to science. I am so glad he enjoyed his family and got to love grandchildren. Wow, what an active life he lead outside of his work! Very sad to learn he is gone, but my memories of John only makes me smile.

I was a schoolmate of John's in the late 1950's and early '60's. One afternoon while I was visiting with him at his parents' home in West Newton we learned that the Russians had successfully launched Sputnik, the first satellite, during the Cold War. It was reported to be sending signals back to earth. This was kind of a frightening moment and we knew then that life would never really be the same.