David W Schaffe

For the last decade of his life, David Schaffe started every day the same way: He dropped into a local Chevron station to buy the morning paper then headed to Red Leaf in Kelso for a brewed coffee and spinach strata. As the U.S. Army veteran worked on the paper’s crossword puzzle or sudoku, he poked fun at the baristas. “He was always polite, of course, but we would joke with him and call him an old man. And he would say, ‘Oh don’t make me come back there,’ ” said Red Leaf owner Melissa Vandervalk. Later Schaffe would head to the Triangle Bowling Alley for lunch and to gamble on pull tabs. “He’d give us a hard time but make us laugh with his sarcasm and jokes and little remarks,” said Kate Denmen, an employee at the bowling alley who also worked as Schaffe’s caretaker. “Half the time he would piss off other customers with his little remarks. We’d have to tone him down,” Denman added, laughing. Then it was back to Red Leaf for a coffee refill before heading home to listen to ESPN — always on the radio, never the television. Schaffe’s dry humor and steady presence won him a permanent spot in the hearts of employees at his regular prowls. Though he didn’t have any relatives nearby, he found a family at the coffee shop and bowling alley. “He adopted us, and we adopted him,” Vandervalk said. “We took him in as our Red Leaf grandpa.” On Sunday, the Kelso Red Leaf will hold a memorial service for Schaffe, who died Feb. 13 after a battle with prostate cancer. He was 78. The service will include full military honors, presented by the Kelso American Legion. According to his discharge record, Schaffe served in the Army just shy of eight years. A field artillery crewman, Schaffe served in the Vietnam War. He earned the National Defense Service Medal, Republic of Vietnam Service Medal and Vietnam Campaign Medal. “Military was a big part of his life, even until the day he passed away,” Denman said. But Schaffe didn’t share many “war stories” with his adopted family, and the Kelso Legion knew little about the specifics of his military experience. “Not everyone, especially Vietnam veterans, were welcomed home. They carried that scar with them. ... They just don’t want to talk about it,” said Dan Halverson, state captain for the American Legion Patriot Guard. But his friends and family don’t need to know his whole war story to honor him as a veteran, said Halverson, who helped organize the military honors for Sunday’s service. “I know he served with distinction and honor, and that’s all I need to know. He’s a brother to all of us,” Halverson said. Schaffe’s chosen family remembers him as a “jokester” with a “sassy sense of humor.” “He was always giving us all a hard time, but it would just lighten your day. He always had me laughing,” said Potter, who worked at Red Leaf for about 18 months. “I got married over a year ago, and I was showing Dave pictures of me in my wedding dress, and he was like, ‘Oh my gosh, you look terrible. … I just hate a woman in white,’ ” Potter said. “It was little things like that.” Schaffe started frequenting the Kelso cafe shortly after it opened in 2011, Vandervalk said. He always ordered the same meal, so the store installed a special “Dave” button on the cash register. Shadowbox Red Leaf Coffee customers get a peek at the Kelso location's shadowbox honoring longtime customer and U.S. veteran Dave Schaffe. Courtney Talak He also “harassed” the staff at the bowling alley daily. He and Denman met there about 10 years ago, and they connected over their sarcasm and interest in gambling. “He’s one of those people that has a sense of humor that not everyone can get. He was stubborn. You could call him a cranky old man,” Denman said. “Not everyone appreciates his humor, but I loved it.”

Denman signed on as his caretaker about six months ago, shortly after he got his cancer diagnosis. Begrudgingly, he let her drive him to doctors appointments, she said.

“When he moved into the Canterberry Inn, I’d come over on a daily basis. And a lot of times I’d torture him with Hallmark movies,” Denman laughed. “He would tell me he felt dumber every time we watched.”

A Wisconsin native, Schaffe moved to the Pacific Northwest about 30 years ago. He lived in Long Beach for a number of years before moving to Kelso around 2001.

His closest relative, a sister, lives in southern Oregon. She is planning a service at Eagle Point National Cemetery near Medford, Ore., for later this spring, Denman said.

Locally, Red Leaf will host a small memorial service for Schaffe’s friends. Vandervalk also plans to install a nameplate on Schaffe’s favorite chair and a memorial shadow box that includes photos of Schaffe at the coffee shop, a receipt for his regular order and his Chicago Cubs jacket.

“When we went in on Christmas Day (to visit him), Dave gave us his jacket,” Vandervalk said. “My husband said, ‘I’ll have the jacket framed in your honor. You’ll always have a home in our Red Leaf family with us.’ ”

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