In Memoriam | James C Shaffer-Bauck 1951 – 2024

||| FROM LINDA SLONE |||

James Carl Shaffer-Bauck (aka “Doody”), 72, died peacefully at his Orcas Island home surrounded by family on August 22, 2024, of complications from cancer.

The middle child of three, Jim was born November 23, 1951, and raised on a rural farm in Wichita County, Kansas. After attending country schools through sixth grade, the transition to Wichita County Community High School gave life to Jim’s deep passion for music in every form. During these years, he discovered the beginning of a thread that would soon be woven throughout every year of the life that lay before him. He participated in pep band, concert band, dance band, marching band, stage band, percussion ensemble, mixed chorus, and boys glee. He even competed in the state music festival performing a snare drum solo, receiving a rating of 1—the highest award.

From 1969–1973, Jim attended Wichita State University and graduated with a degree in Sociology. During this time, he met his first wife, the mother of his two girls, Carla Shaffer. He mustered the courage to ask for her phone number when she stopped at the record shop where he worked, and the two hit it off. They moved to Seattle together and later moved to Orcas Island. When they married in 1981 at the foothills of the Cascades, he played drums as Carla danced for a portion of the ceremony.

Decades later, brought together by their mutual love for music and a spare ticket he had purchased by mistake, a romance sparked as Jim and Linda Slone attended a concert on Lopez Island followed by the first of many epic multi-course meals (which caused them to miss the last ferry back to Orcas). They married in 2015 beneath the arbor at their home, ensconced in a small group of family and dear friends. Jim was so swept up in the moment that, when asked to offer his hand for Linda to place the ring, he gave her his right hand, setting off a ripple of laughter from those in attendance.

A passionate collector of cappuccino cups (among many other things) and a nap aficionado, Jim was once hired to reconstruct a historic cabin and barn in Spokane. Throwing himself entirely into the work, he developed a rather “overgrown” appearance. During this time, he would walk to town—reusable canvas grocery bags billowing off each shoulder, one containing a ceramic cup and saucer gently nested in a Tupperware—to run errands and enjoy a “double bone-dry cappuccino” before heading back to the jobsite. On one of these outings, he nodded off in the café, encircled by his pile of totes, only to be gently tapped on the shoulder by a barista and told, “Sir, we cannot have you sleeping in here.” As he collected his belongings and headed for the door, it dawned on him that the employee had thought him to be a drifter. The tale became a standing joke with his family whenever he developed an unkempt look.

In 2023, when he saw the belly that held his growing granddaughter for the first time, he dipped theatrically and exclaimed to Lyria’s belly button “Well, hello!” Once Naia Rose was born, talk around the island and the tears he shed when he first held her told of the overwhelming awe that he felt in being able to share the last months of his life with such a little source of light and joy, as her one and only “Grand-Doody.”

Jim marched to the beat of his own drum—literally, but also figuratively. Known to irk the landlords who were brave enough to rent to him, there was a period during which his workday copilot was an overzealous rooster, who he shuttled back and forth to construction sites in his two-tone Chevy Impala to spare the neighbors the pre-dawn crowing. Countless stories have been shared of the quirky, creative problem-solving nature and keen wit of Jim Shaffer-Bauck that made him the unique and ever-surprising character who brought artistic richness to the Orcas Island community.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Carl F. Bauck (2006) and Laura V. (Rome) Bauck (2010), both of Garden City, Kansas. He is survived by his daughters, Karina Shaffer-Bauck of Orcas Island, Washington, and Lyria Shaffer-Bauck of Seattle, Washington, wife Linda Slone of Orcas Island, Washington, sisters Constance Barnum of Wichita, Kansas, and Nancy Bauck of Los Angeles, California, granddaughter Naia Flynn of Seattle, Washington, two nephews, David Barnum of Overland Park, Kansas, and Steven Barnum of Hutchinson, Kansas, two great nieces, Elizabeth Barnum and Michelle Barnum of Hutchinson, Kansas, and one great nephew, Sherman Barnum of Overland Park, Kansas.

A celebration of Jim’s life will be held at Orcas Center on his birthday—Saturday, November 23, 2024, at 2 PM. Please join us for shared music and stories followed by light appetizers and beverages—as Jim could not be convinced to show up for anything without the promise of a morsel to tickle his palate and libations to wash it down. Those who are unable to attend in person are encouraged to visit his obituary page at Recompose the evening of November 23, after the ceremony, for a link to a video recording of the event.

For those who would like to honor Jim and his unfaltering love for music, please consider making a memorial gift to the Music Advocacy Group (MAG), which raises funds to support music education in the Orcas Island public schools, at oimag.org.