Shaffer Parsons Volunteer Fire Department Fund

Shaffer Parsons Volunteer Fire Department Fund

TYPE OF FUND:  Designated                        DATE ESTABLISHED:  August 2014 

PURPOSE:  To provide perpetual funding for the Parsons Volunteer Fire Department.

DISTRIBUTION:  Upon the recommendation of the Grants Committee and approval by the Board of Directors of TCF.  

VARIANCE POWER:  If, in the judgment of the TCF Board of Directors, the restrictions and conditions of the fund become unnecessary, incapable of fulfillment or inconsistent with the charitable needs of the community, the TCF Board of Directors maintains the right to modify the terms of this fund.  TCF has exclusive legal control over any contributed assets.

FUNDING:  $20,000 donation from Harold W. & Ruth F. Shaffer.

BACKGROUND:  Mr. Shaffer, the son of Harry S. and Stella Florence Adams Shaffer, was born May 28, 1907.  The Shaffer family members are natives of Barbour and Preston counties.  A 1926 graduate of Parsons High School, he attended Fairmont State College, West Virginia University and Columbia University.  Mr. Shaffer taught at Parsons High School from 1933 to 1973.  He was responsible for establishing the National Honor Society at the school.  He was also the first sponsor of the Bow Tie club; at the request of Principal Jesse Riley, he sponsored the school newspaper, the Parsons Echo, in 1934; was adviser of the Hi-Y Club for more than ten years; and was class sponsor for the classes of 1942, 1960, 1964, 1968, and 1972.  Mr. Shaffer, a veteran of the United States Army, was stationed at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.

His wife, the former Ruth Forman, a daughter of Joseph N. and Viola Clarkson Forman, was born Aug. 16, 1912.  The family members are natives of Barbour and Preston counties.  She is a native of Barbour County and a graduate of Philippi High School.  She worked at the First National Bank (now Mountain Valley Bank, NA) in Parsons from 1960 to 1972. After their retirement in 1972, the couple moved to Philippi.