After putting up the good fight with cancer for 14 years and surrounded by love, Nicholas Clark Shaffer, 76, of Netarts, left for a better place on January 23, 2024. Nick was born at the old Tillamook Hospital in time for dinner on December 25, 1947 to Susanne Flisram Shaffer (Turner) and Edward Shaffer. Ed was a Pennsylvania coal miner who joined the Navy and was stationed in Tillamook, Oregon where he met and married Susie. Together they had three sons, John, Nick and Jeff. Nick attended local schools where he was the master of passive resistance.
In the 1965 THS yearbook, Nick’s motto was, “For he’s a jolly good fellow.” Not much changed during his life. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy and served with honor for four years during the Vietnam Conflict. On his return home, he took a liking to Harley-Davidson. He worked at Weimer Furniture and bought a house in Oceanside known as the “Sheepshed.” He was later employed by H-H Web Press, working in the darkroom which produced the weekly Headlight-Herald, Lincoln City News Guard and Seaside Signal. It was there that he met his wife Linda when she took a job at the newspaper in 1979. Since Linda experienced “love at first sight’, Nick didn’t stand a chance. The two were wed in 1981. The relationship included her two pre-teen daughters Shannon and Pam.
Nick loved to talk to people and they loved to talk with him. He collected bits of information throughout his life and could recall them at the most fitting times. His sense of humor was contagious and he loved bad jokes. He was not politically correct but was forgiven by most who knew him. He sang lines from old songs when they were least expected. On a gurney headed for open heart surgery he sang, “Don’t forget about me when I’m gone, oh baby.”
He was at home in local taverns. His favorite was in Netarts, earlier in Oceanside but he when he followed Linda to the Willamette Valley in the late 1980s for her work, he always found a place to hang out and make new buddies. Though he didn’t like wrenches, he knew all about cars and could always find a another motorhead to share his passion with. He worked at several jobs during that time but took a job at the Oceanside Water District in 1995 when Linda returned to the Headlight-Herald. He later worked for the Netarts-Oceanside Sanitary District and did two things he hated. He studied hard and took tests to get and keep the job.
Nick reveled in the people, food, sunshine and warm waters of Mexico, especially the 13 years he and Linda visited Zihuantanejo. At home, he was built for pulling crab pots on Netarts Bay. His garage was known as the “Crab Lounge.” Nick loved his home, friends and family. Though he did not hold an infant (his great-grandson, Maverick) until he was 75, he was one of the best grandpas ever. The man who didn’t want pets
ended up sleeping with and loving four basset hounds, two cats, Grover the miniature poodle and finally, Scout, a terrier mix who came late in his life to nurture him.
Nick was preceded in death by his grandparents, parents and stepbrother, Tim Turner. He is survived by his brothers John Shaffer (Lynda) of Tillamook and Jeff Shaffer of Gig Harbor, WA. and their children and grandchildren. Married in 1981, he leaves behind his life-wife Linda; stepdaughters Shannon Badger (Rich Durbin) of Netarts and Pam Wright (Jeff Barksdale) of Albany; grandsons, Nathan MacDonald (Kara)and great-grandson Maverick of Olympia, WA; Jacob MacDonald, Kennewick, WA; and Dawson Wright, Albany, OR.
There is not enough good to be said about Adventist Health Home Care Hospice of Tillamook. Donations in Nick’s name are encouraged in thanks for all the support and love they provided during the last year of his life. Nick did not want an end of life celebration because he would be unable to attend and was unable to drive his old red truck to get there.