James "Jim" Shaffer

1953 - 2025

James "Jim" Shaffer
05/21/1953 - 12/02/2025
Jim was born on May 21, 1953, in Postville, Iowa. His family moved to Vinton, Iowa where he attended the Iowa Braille and Sight Saving School. Jim's father was a farmer.
Jim was an amazing person. While in high school, Jim was a foreign exchange student in Argentina. He could still speak and understand Spanish!
Despite being born blind, he graduated magna cum laude from Luther College with a double major in physics and math. He moved to Austin in 1980 to work as a software engineer. He retired from IBM in 2008 after 30 years of service.
He was married to Julie Ryder for 10 years and briefly married to Jody Shaffer.
In October of 1997, he married Lynn Vaughan.
Jim was an avid ham operator and attended many international ham conventions. He also wrote software for blind ham operators.
In addition, he also played fiddle, mandolin and guitar. He played fiddle in a number of bluegrass bands including The Johnny Burnett Trio, Borrowed Time, Piney Grove Ramblers and Geezer Grass.
Jim enjoyed going on many ocean cruises including ones to Scandinavia and the British Isles. He was fun-loving, generous, and had a good sense of humor.
Jim passed away on December 2nd from complications of Parkinson's Disease. We would like to thank the staff of the Primrose Assisted Living for their care of Jim.
Jim is survived by his wife, Lynn Vaughan, son Kevin and wife LaTierra and grandson Alister, sister Carol Geater and brother-in-law Hank Vaughan. He is also survived by pets Wally, Rusty, and Brindi.
In lieu of flowers please contribute to the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians (HAAM): www.myhaam.org or The Parkinson's Foundation: www.parkinson.org. Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared on his tribute page at AustinNaturalFunerals.com
He will be missed.