To help feed his 11 siblings, Steve Shaffer worked on a horse-drawn wagon, picking up garbage in Irwin.
"Pap was in the eighth grade when he left school to help his family," said his son-in-law, Bill Airgood. "He had to go down into the cellars of the homes to bring out the garbage. And whatever he made he gave it to his parents."
Stephen Shaffer, of North Huntingdon, Westmoreland County, died on Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2006, at home. He was 91.
"Pap later joined the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps)," Airgood said. "He was stationed at Indiantown Gap (Lebanon County). He worked on building roads, primarily in Westmoreland."
Born in Paintertown and raised in Shafton and Hahntown, all in Westmoreland County, Mr. Shaffer was one of 12 children of coal miner Peter Shaffer and Sarah Dugan Shaffer.
"Pap didn't have it easy as a boy," Airgood said. "When his father refused to cross the picket line at the mine where he was working, the company came in and confiscated all of his parents' furniture and threw them on a slate dump in Larimer.
"They slept on the slate dump for three days until his father walked to New Kensington, where he found work."
In 1942, Mr. Shaffer enlisted in the Army and spent three years as both an infantryman and a member of the field artillery fighting in North Africa, Italy and France during World War II.
"Pap was proud to have served his country," Airgood said. "Although he never took a drink at the American Legion Post, he supported the Legion and was proud of what it stood for."
Following his discharge in 1946, Mr. Shaffer married Alice "Peggy" George, of Turtle Creek, who he met when she was a waitress at the White Tower in Turtle Creek.
He also began a 31-year career at Westinghouse Electric in East Pittsburgh.
The Shaffers bought a small farm on Pleasant Valley Road in Penn, where they raised chickens and grew vegetables.
"Pap worked on the farm in the morning, hauled coal and then went to work at Westinghouse," Airgood said. "I came into the family in 1980 and immediately admired my father-in-law.
"He was a mild-mannered man, who enjoyed fishing. He was devoted to his Christian faith. ... My in-laws were members of St. Colman in Turtle Creek and later at St. Barbara in Penn.
"Pap attributed his long life to drinking strong coffee and working hard. Early this year, he was splitting wood in the backyard of our house."
Mr. Shaffer is survived by a son, James Shaffer, of Donegal; four daughters, Dolly Airgood, of North Huntingdon; Stephanie Watkins, of Commodore, Indiana County; Marian Hursh, of Greensburg, and Peggy Demorest, of Westmoreland City; 17 grandchildren and 21 great-grandchildren; and five siblings, William Shaffer, of Penn; John "Sonny" Shaffer, of North Huntingdon; Rose George, of Harrison City; Betty Bolic, of North Irwin, and Shirley Smith, of Irwin.
He was preceded in death by his wife, Alice "Peggy" George Shaffer, in 1999; two brothers, Paul and Donald Shaffer; and four sisters, Ellen Polovina, Kathern Glagola, June McCauley and Maryanne Shaffer, who died as a child.
Visitation will be from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. today in the Vincent V. Rodgers Funeral Home, 805 Pennsylvania Ave., Irwin, where a blessing service will be conducted at noon Saturday.
Burial will be in Irwin Union Cemetery.
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