By Keith Gushard
12/17/06 — Raymond P. Shafer was remembered as good-humored and a statesman by those who attended calling hours Saturday for the late governor of Pennsylvania at the Robert W. Waid Funeral Home in Meadville.
Shafer, 89, of Meadville died Tuesday at Meadville Medical Center. Funeral services are scheduled today at 1:30 p.m. at Ford Chapel at Allegheny College.
Shafer, who served as governor from 1967 to 1971, also was president of Allegheny College in 1985-86 and was a former trustee of the college. He was a 1938 magna cum laude graduate of Allegheny with bachelor of science degrees in history and political science.
“He was wonderful,” said Barbara Workinger of Linesville, a certified nursing assistant who has worked as a caregiver for the Shafer family for the last two years.
“I told him ‘If all men were like you, there’d be no divorce rate’,” Workinger said.
Workinger said the former governor and his wife enjoyed getting out in the area.
“He liked to go to Eddie’s Footlongs (the locally famous hot dog stand),” Workinger said. “We’d go once a week and then go down the road to Hank’s for ice cream.”
“He cared about all of us (on his staff),” Workinger said. “He treated us like family.”
Gay Lynch,90, of Meadville first met Gov. Shafer and his wife, Jane, in the 1960s when she and her late husband, Roland, moved to the area.
“He was such a good man and a wonderful person,” said Lynch.
William DeArment, president of Channellock Inc. of Meadville, and his wife, Linda, were among those paying respects to the Shafer family as well.
“The DeArment and Shafer families have been long-time family friends,” William DeArment said noting his parents had known the governor and his family socially. “Him being from Meadville — we were all so proud of him.”
“When I think of Ray Shafer I think of that word statesman,” DeArment continued. “We could use more of them — those who do the right thing, not the politically correct thing — to get elected.”
Current Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell made a brief stopover in Meadville Saturday afternoon to offer his respects to the Shafer family as well.
Rendell called Shafer progressive.
“His investment in education wasn’t spending for spending’s sake, but to move the state forward,” Rendell said.
During the Shafer administration, basic education funding increased by 71 percent and higher education by 47 percent.
“He was a careful, thoughtful and effective man,” Rendell said.
Diane Graham, Shafer’s daughter, said the family is holding up well and has appreciated the show of support from the community.
“He died peacefully. His family was all with him and we were glad to be with him,” she said.
Gov. Shafer had been in declining health the past few years, had suffered a stroke in 2003 that left him partially paralyzed and had been diagnosed with diabetes.
