R. Keith Shafer

R. Keith Shafer, age 90, passed away January 22, 2017 at Jefferson County Health Center.

Visitation will be 4:00 pm – 7:00 pm, Wednesday, February 1, 2017 at Behner Funeral Home.

A memorial service will be 10:30 am, Thursday, February 2, 2017 at First United Methodist Church with Pastor Todd Holman officiating. Burial will be in Bethesda Cemetery, east of Fairfield.

Memorials may be made to: Senior Citizen’s Center of Fairfield, Maasdam Barns Preservation, Carnegie Museum Foundation, or Bonnifield Cabin Restoration % Carnegie Museum Foundation. Cards and Memorials can be sent to: The Shafer Family, 216D Southgate Circle, Fairfield, Iowa 52556.

Keith was born March 6, 1926 to Glenn Emerson and Florence Margaret (Clapp) Shafer. He married Mary Evalyn Summers September 26, 1948 at the Pleasant Grove Methodist Church north of Fairfield. They were married 62 years before she passed away January 22, 2011.

Keith graduated from Fairfield High School with the class of 1943. He served in the US Army in the occupation of Korea at the close of WWII. In 1963 he participated in a “People to People” goodwill agricultural tour of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. In 2015 Keith went on the honor flight to Washington, D.C. He was a farmer and operated a sawmill. Keith served as a Jefferson County Supervisor from 1988 through 1996. He was an avid reader, hunter and lover of the outdoors. Keith was a member of the First United Methodist Church and The Howard Johnson Coffee Club. Over the course of his life he was named “Iowa Conservation Man of the Year” and “Tree Farmer of the Year”. He served on the Jefferson County Republican Central Committee, Farm Bureau and Iowa United Methodist Hunger Task Force.

Keith is survived by 4 sons: Mark (Susan) Shafer of Fairfield, IA, Herbert (Jan) Shafer of Bentonsport, IA, Lynn (Leslie Brown) Shafer of New Gloucester, ME and Allen (Alison) Shafer of Quincy, IL; 6 grandchildren; 7 great-grandchildren; and one brother, Floyd Shafer of Fairfield, IA.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Glenn and Florence Shafer; his wife, Mary Evalyn Shafer; and sister-in-law, Ramona Shafer.