Charles Felker Shaffer's Obituary
Shaffer, Charles Felker ~ 89, of Richardson died on Thursday February 17, 2011 at Methodist Richardson Medical Center following a sudden illness (stroke) with his family by his side. He was born October 8, 1921 in Elizabethtown, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, the son of Charles Gantz Shaffer and Mary Elizabeth (Felker). He attended the area schools and graduated with honors from Elizabethtown High School in 1939. He received the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute award for excelling in mathematics and science. After high school, he attended Aero Industries Technical Institute and then worked for the US Civil Service at Philadelphia Ordnance as inspector of 75 mm artillery fuses at Philco Radio Plant. He was transferred to Rosemont PA to inspect 20 mm anti aircraft projectiles. He was drafted into the US Army on August 12, 1942 and served through March 9, 1946 in both USA and European Theatre of Operations during WW II. He received an honorable discharge on March 9, 1946 and resumed Civil Service work at the Frankford Arsenal in Philadelphia PA till January 1947. Charles attended Elizabethtown College under the GI bill from February 1947-1950 and graduated with a BS in Science. He worked for RCA from 1951-1959 in Lancaster, PA. His specialties were electroplating, wet chemical etching, photolithography and operation of the ruling engine. He was then recruited by Texas Instruments in Dallas, Texas and worked there from 1959-1989 as a process engineer in Photo Mask Group and the S.A.W. lab. One of his lifelong hobbies was amateur radio or “ham radio” as it is more commonly known. He received his first license in 1952 and held call signs W3UNK in PA and W5ADH in TX. He enjoyed communication with amateur radio operators all over the world. He holds the top US license class of Amateur Extra Class which requires passing both the Element 4B theory exam and a 20 WPM Morse code test. He enjoyed working his Morse code, Q codes and achieved several awards and certificates. Among his other achievements, he achieved an exceedingly difficult award in Amateur Radio – the Five-Band DX Century Award – which meant that he was able through sheer determination as well as other often unpredictable factors to make and receive verified confirmation of two-way radio contact via amateur radio with operators in one-hundred separate recognized countries on each of five authorized bands (authorized frequencies). Only a small percentage of the world’s thousands of operators achieve this award. Most concentrate on one band and feel very fortunate if and when they achieve the 100 country mark and give no serious thought to going after “the big one” – the ham’s version of Mt. Everest. He was a member of the Richardson Wireless Klub (RWK), editor of the Chawd Rag, and member of the ARRL, National Association of Amateur Radio. Charlie married Mae Millard on April 21, 1956 at St. Paul’s Evangelical United Brethren Church in Elizabethtown, PA. They enjoyed over 54 years of marriage. He was a member of First United Methodist Church, Richardson, Texas and enjoyed his bible study group. He enjoyed coin & stamp collecting, genealogy, computers, and he loved animals. He had a pure heart and many fine qualities. He was soft spoken, a true gentlemen with high moral values and strength in character of honesty and good will. He will be greatly missed by all of his family and friends. He was preceded in death by his parents. Charlie is survived by his wife Mae, three daughters, Brenda Haven & spouse Jeff of Plano, Joanne Farrell & spouse Jim of Plano, Susan Hendrix & spouse Vince of Allen, and 5 grandchildren, Megan Farrell, James Farrell, Elisabeth Haven, Katherine Haven and Michael Hendrix. A Memorial Service will be held Trinity Fellowship Church, 932 S Greenville Ave., Richardson TX 75081 www.trinityfellowship.org on March 12, 2011 at 1:00pm. Burial will be at Restland Cemetery in Richardson, Texas. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be directed to Century Hospice, 4101 McEwen Rd. Suite 500, Dallas, TX 75244 www.centuryhospice.com, The American Heart Association, http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/ or any other charity of your choice.
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