D6's Bob Shaffer retires to begin
living a new life adventure

After 10 years of service working for ITD, D6’s Mackay Maintenance TTO Bob Shaffer will soon retire — his last day in the office was Wednesday (July 15). Starting the next chapter of life together, Bob and his wife of 29 years, Marie, decided to retire at the same time.

Shaffer's mother was raised in Mackay, and his father found work there after coming from Oklahoma. He landed a job in Mackay running the local mine. Having grown up in Mackay, Bob is still very well known throughout the community.

Being in Mackay his whole life, Bob had numerous jobs in the area before coming to work for ITD.

Years ago, Bob was a ranch manager in Darlington, chasing his most cherished passion — ranching. Bob loves ranching, farming and the outdoors.

"If I could have been able to afford to be a cowboy my whole life, I would’ve been, but I decided long ago I wanted other luxuries in life,” he said. “I love cattle and anything to do with livestock; being outdoors is what I enjoy most.”

Bob also ran the local irrigation district for five years and ended up becoming the water master for the Lost River Valley for another five years. “It was the best and worst job you can have,” he explained.

Bob quit the water district and came to work for ITD 10 years ago.

Bob and Marie met 30 years ago in Mackay. At the time, Bob was working for a mining exploration company and Marie was in college. She came up to work for the same company just for the summer, and never left.

When they met, they hit it right off. They were married shortly thereafter.

“She’s probably the most patient woman in the world because she’s been married to me for 29 years,” he said.“If I'd never met Marie, I would probably still be single today.”

Together they have a daughter, Melissa, who is married and lives with her husband and three children in Pocatello. Melissa is in college and her husband works for the Forest Service as the Fire Management Officer. They have three kids— a son and twin daughters.

Being married and raising a wonderful daughter, Bob has learned some very valuable lessons. One very important lesson is his morning routine!

Anyone who knows Bob knows he is a cheerful morning person, mornings are his thing! However, they are not so much for his wife and daughter. Bob says, “I used to wake up in the mornings very cheerful and excited and eager to share, but have learned over the years and many looks laterthat it’s just best to keep my head down until they have some coffee and wake up.” Marie and Bob both chuckle and laugh.

With retirement here, Bob and Marie started thinking about what they want to do. While Marie likes to hike Bob will only "do it under protest!” They do enjoy the outdoors, but now that they are older, they have their limits. “My idea of roughing it is a hotel without a bar." Needless to say, Bob’s not much for roughing it anymore and says, “I’m more of a glamper as you would say these days.” Glamorous camping.

They both thoroughly enjoy travelling and enjoy visiting random unplanned places. Typically when they vacation they’ll get out a map, close their eyes and point to a spot on the map. Then they find a way to get there. Neither of them likes making plans when on vacation; they like the excitement of being spontaneous. Over the years their travels have taken them to some very interesting places.

“Many times, we’ll get to intersections and just randomly choose which direction to go. We’ve ended up in some pretty interesting destinations!” Bob loves it. “We’ve seen a lot of cool places and things over the years that way.”

Over the years of random travels, one of their favorite places to visit was Laughlin, Nevada. They used to use Laughlin as their “main hub” to stay and they’d travel to random places from there. Marie and Bob loved it and over the years it has become a destination town for many so they don’t visit there too much anymore. As Bob says, “I’m not a fan of big cities.”

This small town man is one guy that really enjoys his peace and quiet and wide-open spaces. Needless to say, big towns and lots of people are not his thing! And that is something him and Marie share.

Diving deeper into Bob’s life, he has been through quite a bit since him and Marie have been married. They first discovered he had melastatic melanoma cancer years ago. Listen to his story here of how they found out.

Bob’s first treatment was an entire year long, with weird reactions. It was a rough year. After that, he was clear until one day when he went in for an MRI, and found that cancer metastasized into his brain. He had treatments of Radiation and Chemotherapy for five straight years.

“In the course of countless treatments, I have lost a lot of my memory, unfortunately,” Bob states. He has now been in remission for 18 years and goes into the doctors for annual scans and checkups.

Following the sale of her family farm in eastern Idaho, Bob and Marie decided to retire together. After 30 years of service with the Forest Service, Marie is now retired. Bob will officially retire from ITD August 1.  

Published 07-17-20