John E. Schaefer

John E. Schaefer The eldest son of the Reverend John E. and Elsa (Mehrstedt) Schaefer, John was born on June 18, 1918, in Alma City, Minnesota. He served in the US Navy during WWII, seeing shipboard action in the North Atlantic and South Pacific. Following the war, he settled in Phoenix , Arizona and married Ruth Clinger in 1947. He received bachelor\u0027s and master\u0027s degrees in civil and electrical engineering from the Universities of Minnesota and Arizona and was employed for 34 years by Yost \u0026 Gardner Engineers in Phoenix , serving for 8 years as company president. He retired briefly when he and his family moved to Whidbey Island in Washington State in 1980, but then made the technological leap from slide rule and drafting board to AutoCAD and continued working for another 15 years, including serving as Coupeville\u0027s Town Engineer. John was an avid reader, conversationalist and thinker, and a writer of letters and poetry. He was an enthusiastic fisherman who enjoyed back-country rambles and was always interested in indentifying the birds and plants seen along the way. He especially appreciated a good apple pie. A lifelong Lutheran, he was an ardent Bible scholar, study group participant and leader, and served on many committees, most notably in the areas of evangelism, building, and education. He is survived by his wife Ruth (Pranspill) Schaefer of Cottonwood, AZ, and daughter and son-in-law Martha and Steve Ellis of Coupeville, WA, as well as numerous other relatives, including nieces Susan Schaefer of Milwaukee, WI, Callie Masten of Carpentersville, IL, Ruth Councell and husband George of Pennington, NJ, Anne Tietjen and husband John Barker of Bellingham, WA, and nephew Jim Tietjen and wife Sevil of Huntsville, AL. He was preceded in death by his brother, Marcus Schaefer, sister Bethel Foil, and wife Ruth M. (Clinger) Schaefer. A memorial service will be held Friday, December 18 at the Oak Harbor Lutheran Church , 1253 N.W. 2nd Ave. , Oak Harbor , WA . 98277. A graveside service will be prior to the memorial service. An online guestbook is available at www.westcottfuneralhome.com