From Vancouver Sunrise Rotary Club:

John Schaffers was a friend of mine.  Not only a fellow Rotarian and dependable team member for any activities he chose to participate in, he was our club's rose master, a past club president, and a "master" touring cyclist. Some of my favorite vacations were as a participant in self-supported bicycle tours he led in Eastern Oregon and an amazing 10 day summer trip in Southern Oregon and Northern California. John was always out front on his beloved touring Bike Friday Bike, had all the maps, and made arrangements for beautiful places where we camped along the way.  

 

John completed a mostly solo cross-USA self-supported tour after he retired.  On one of his later adventures after that I helped cart his gear to his beginning point near Mt. Hood from which he intended to bike from north to south in the Cascades and Sierra Nevada Ranges.  A couple of days into that trip he was smoked off his route from wildfire smoke during the severe fires that summer.  I followed his tribulations and met him to drive him home.  

 

John was quiet, honest, strong, and really smart.  He was a good friend and a teacher to me.  When he revealed his ALS diagnosis he did it with personal courage and a willingness to try a trial treatment that he hoped could help others.  I NEVER heard him complain or play "what if...".   Even in advanced stages of his illness, John took advantage of available tech to keep communicating and moving.  Club member David Weedman and I would walk beside John in his motorized wheelchair when he wanted to get out as long as he was able to see his neighborhood.  He had a lot of family and friends support in his final days because he had himself cultivated relationships and was a good friend to others. -- Bob Ives