Ruth M. Shaffer

1927 - 2022

News story
By Mark Zaborney
Blade Staff Writer

Ruth M. Shaffer, a retired Rossford elementary teacher who volunteered for church and community in Perrysburg, where she resided, died Monday in Hospice of Northwest Ohio, Perrysburg Township. She was 94.

She had a stroke, her daughter, Cristina White, said.

For years, she and her late husband, Jack Shaffer, could be seen on daily walks through Perrysburg. She lived most recently at the Commons of Perrysburg, and she walked the halls at least twice a day.

"They rode bikes in their 80s," Mrs. White said.

Mrs. Shaffer's chosen career when she attended Bowling Green State University was teaching.

"That's the only thing she looked to do," said her sister, Elizabeth Adkins.

After marriage, she put her education on hold to care for her children at home. She returned to BGSU when she and her first husband separated, completed her studies, and received a bachelor's degree.

She began teaching at Crissey Elementary School in the Springfield district, and that's where she met Mr. Shaffer, who taught there. She taught fourth through sixth grades for more than 20 years in the Rossford district. She retired from Indian Hills Elementary School in the late 1970s.

Patience was a quality she had in abundance, Mrs. White said.

"She was a good mom," Mrs. White said. "You have to have patience to have three boys and a girl.

"She really liked teaching. She liked the kids, and she liked the people she taught with. It was her calling," her daughter said. "I remember her having students who had a tougher time in life, and I remember her sitting down with the moms and dads and trying to get the parents involved with the children."

Mrs. Adkins, the youngest of her siblings, said: "She took care of everybody. She felt everybody had potential."

In retirement, she was home for about three months, "and that wasn't really for her," Mrs. White. She took what at first was a part-time job at Houck's Hallmark in uptown Perrysburg, and stayed for about 17 years. She got to see friends who stopped by to shop, as well as former students and colleagues.

"She very much liked people," Mrs. Adkins said.

Mrs. Shaffer and her husband were longtime members of Grace United Methodist Church in Perrysburg.

"They were part of the Grace family," Mrs. White said. For years, they and about 10 other couples convened after church for breakfast at a different area eatery, including Fat Jack's, which was run by her sons and daughter.

Mrs. Shaffer volunteered for the food pantry based at Grace and operated by Perrysburg Christians United, a consortium of area churches. At Christmastime, she and her husband placed empty barrels at prominent locations, into which new and used toys could be donated. The toys were distributed to children in need by the Perrysburg Township fire department, of which her brother Louis Wehde, Jr., was longtime chief.

She was born Sept. 27, 1927, to Margaret and Louis Wehde, who were German immigrants, and grew up on a Perrysburg Township farm. She was a 1945 graduate of Perrysburg High School, where she was a cheerleader.

As retirees, Mrs. Shaffer, Mrs. Adkins, and their sister Cathryn Descamps met every Tuesday for lunch.

"We talked about the old times," Mrs. Adkins said. "We had hardworking parents who believed in the work ethic. My dad was a bricklayer, and he worked at Libbey-Owens. It was a wonderful life, really. We worked hard."

Mrs. Shaffer in turn taught her children to do the right thing.

"She taught us to love hard, and that's the hard part right now," her daughter said. "She had integrity and loved her family very much.

"I used to say, she was my mom at the beginning, and she became my best friend, and I became her mom."

Mrs. Shaffer tended a large flower garden behind the family's East Indiana Avenue home. In a lot across the alley from their backyard, the couple also grew fruit and vegetables - strawberries, raspberries, corn, and beets.

She was formerly married to the late Jack Muir. She and Jack Shaffer married in 1968. He died June 10, 2017.

Surviving are her sons Mark Muir, Scott Muir, and Tim Muir; daughter, Cristina White; sister, Elizabeth Adkins; four grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.

Friends and family will be received after 11 a.m. Friday at Grace United Methodist Church, where funeral services will begin at noon. Arrangements are by Witzler-Shank-Walker Funeral Home, Perrysburg

The family suggests tributes to Perrysburg Christians United Food Pantry or the Healing Barn horse rescue and rehabilitation facility in Millbury.