Cover photo for Richard Schaffer's Obituary
Richard Schaffer Profile Photo
1951 Richard 2014

Richard Schaffer

August 8, 1951 — April 25, 2014

Services for Richard (Rick) Lynn Schaffer, 62, of Cibola County, N.M., include A Celebration of Life led by Pastor Victor Grafe at the First Baptist Church at 224 Mountain Rd., Grants, N.M., at 11 a.m., on Saturday, May 10, 2014.



A Memorial Service will be held at a family church in Schuylkill Haven, Pa., at the First United Church of Christ at 110 Rt. 61 South on Saturday, June 14, 2014, at 11 a.m. Pastor Shawn D. Van Dyke will officiate.



Rick was born in Pottsville, Pa., on Aug. 8, 1951, to Agnes (Heim) Schaffer and Robert Schaffer.



He passed away quietly at home on Friday, April 25, 2014, with his loving wife, Lesley, and beloved pets at his bedside.



Rick's adventures began with a few years in the U.S. Army at the age of 17. At 27 he backpacked out to start exploring and landed in Houston, Texas, where he met his wife, Leslie Springstun, who had also ventured out from Long Island, N.Y., on her own.



The couple was married on May 27, 1979, on a mountain at Ft. Davis State Park and began a life of travel and gathering up pets to love...their own and others with their "Rather Be Home" Pet Care business.



Rick loved the western spirit of Texas with its variety of scenery, hats, boots, rodeos, bow hunting, and fishing. He worked for Coastal Publications in Rosenberg as a lithographic technician for 15 years.



In 1994 their spirits led them to New Mexico, first to the piney woods of Ruidoso where more pets were gathered and loved. Their travels turned to exploring in a Jeep and an RV and Rick started his Riggers Pet and Cabin Care business.



In 2008 the odyssey continued to the beautiful northwest part of the New Mexico in Cibola County with its red rock and wide-open spaces. They settled up on Mount Taylor with his two new dogs, Annie and Maya. Rick lovingly supported his wife in her venture for a late life teaching career. He painted and golfed and felt God's presence never more than during his illness with kidney cancer.



He leaves behind his loving wife, Lesley Anne Schaffer; his mother: Agnes (Aggie) Masler; two brothers: Brian Schaffer and his wife, Judy; and Scott Schaffer and his wife, Kathy; four sisters: Sharon Fehr and her husband, Charlie; Kim Heiser; Nadine Morgan and her husband, Herm; and Lisa Picard and her husband, Tony; many nieces and nephews and their children; and his in-laws Elizabeth (Betty) Springstun, Hank Huestis, and Carol Lee Springstun; and beloved pets Smokee, Tahoe, Hidden Moon, Annie, and Maya.



The family has requested that in lieu of flowers donations be made online to the Cancer Services of NM (www.CancerServicesNM.org) or to the humane society of choice and if you have room in your heart, please adopt a pet.
To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Richard Schaffer, please visit our flower store.

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