Wayne Henderson Shaffer

After a nearly 10 year battle with Alzheimer’s, we announce with great sadness the passing of Wayne Henderson Shaffer, 81, on March 8, 2025. Wayne was born November 3, 1943 in Pittsburgh, Pa. to Wayne and Katherine Shaffer. At a young age, his family moved to San Jose, Ca. where his younger brother, Tom, was born and the two grew up together. Wayne graduated from Del Mar High School in 1961, and while in school he played the trumpet, was a leading man in the school musical of Annie Get Your Gun and enjoyed being on the track team as a pole vaulter. His pole vaulting got him a scholarship to the University of Pacific where he vaulted for the Tigers his freshman year of college. Wayne also enjoyed bike riding and while a teenager accomplished the feat of riding a road bike over the Sierra Nevada mountains from San Jose, Ca. to Reno, Nv.

After completing his freshman year of college at the University of Pacific, Wayne transferred to San Jose State University his Sophomore year where he met the love of his life, Dallas. Dallas was needing help with her rock collection for a class she was taking and Wayne used this as an opportunity to ask her out on a date. This started a very long courtship that went off and on for 7 years! Wayne transferred to the University of California, Santa Barbara for his Junior and Senior years, where he graduated with a degree in Economics. Dallas accepted a teaching job in Santa Barbara before Wayne’s senior year where they again became reacquainted.

Wayne then decided to go to graduate school and was accepted into business school at the University of California, Berkeley, where he went on to receive an MBA with an emphasis in Finance. While on campus he met Dallas’s brother, John McPherson, who helped get Wayne and Dallas back together again. Wayne then learned that Dallas had just converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. In addition, Wayne had a classmate at Berkeley he admired (John Whetten) who was also a member of this church and a returned missionary. While taking the missionary discussions and thinking about what he had learned, he had a spiritual experience while walking across campus where he suddenly knew that what the missionaries were teaching him was true. He was baptized in 1967 in the chapel adjacent to the Oakland Temple. 

After graduating from Berkley, and with the Vietnam draft in full swing, Wayne decided to proactively join the Navy as an Officer, rather than chance getting drafted into the army as an enlisted soldier, so he enrolled at Officer Candidate School in Newport, Ri. and was commissioned as an Ensign on May 6, 1968 and then completed additional training during the summer of 1968 to become specialized as a Communications officer. Wayne then served in the Pacific on the USS Rehoboth until December 1969 when the ship arrived back in San Francisco. It was at this time that Wayne found Dallas, who had since started teaching in nearby Monterey and proposed to her. Thankfully she accepted and Wayne immediately had to return to Washington, DC for a position he had just accepted at the Pentagon. Dallas finished her school term for teaching and on June 13, 1970, Wayne and Dallas were married in the Oakland Temple, and then immediately drove back to Falls Church, Va. where they started their married life together. There were many moves with the military after that, including Athens, Georgia, Naples, Italy, and Concord, California.

Afterwards, two children were born while Wayne was serving in the military, Ryan Wayne Shaffer born on July 13, 1976 while stationed in El Centro, Ca. and Kevin McPherson Shaffer born October 4, 1978 while stationed in Guam. In 1979, Wayne left active duty service with the Navy and pursued a new career in banking, getting his first job with Bank of America in Yreka, California, where he bought his first home. During this time, a third son, Nathan Benjamin Shaffer was born on October 6, 1980. Wayne worked for Bank of America for 18 years with additional stops in Redding, Ca., Eureka, Ca., Sacramento, Ca. and finally in Mesa, Az. Wayne then left Bank of America in 1997 to work at Tehama Bank in Red Bluff, Ca. and then finally worked as the Chief Credit Officer for a new startup bank, Redwood Capital Bank, in Eureka, Ca., which he retired from in May 2006. During his time in Red Bluff, Wayne served as a bishop for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and loved serving the members of his ward. After retirement, Wayne and Dallas moved to St George, UT where they have lived since.

Wayne’s favorite activities during his retirement were singing in the Southern Heritage Choir, riding his road bike on the many great bike trails in St George, and reading his favorite Tom Clancy novels. He was also a devoted grandfather to his grandchildren and would make sure to drive annually as far as Texas to see all of them.

Wayne is survived by his wife of 54 years, Dallas, his sons, Ryan (Andrea) and Nathan (Kim) of St George, Ut, and Kevin of Phoenix, Az., his younger brother Tom (Peggy), of Montecito, Ca. and 8 grandchildren, Emily, Elizabeth, Ericka (Jacob), Robinson, Ireland, Eden, Quinn, and Quade, and one great-grandchild, Benjamin. He will be missed very much by all of us.

Funeral services will be held Saturday, March 22, 2025 at 10:00 a.m. at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints chapel located at 511 South Valley View Drive, St. George, Utah. Interment will be in the Tonaquint Cemetery.

Funeral services are provided by Hughes Mortuary, 1037 E 700 S, Saint George UT, 435-674-5000.