Howard (Lew) Lewis Schaeffer

Howard Lewis “Lew” Schaeffer was born on September 2, 1924 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to William Schaeffer and Mary Elizabeth Lewis. He died on October 11, 2018 in McKinney, Texas.

After graduating from high school, Lew entered the Army Air Corps at age 18. During WWII he served in the Pacific theater as a B-29 tail gunner. Lew completed 13 combat missions and earned several commendations. After his distinguished service, Lew attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology and graduated with a Bachelor Degree in Geology. While at MIT, Lew met the love of his life, Elinor Frey. Lew and Ellie married May 31, 1952. Lew worked for Sun Oil for 33 years where he had success working all over Texas, Pennsylvania, and Bolivia and discovered an oil field in the Texas panhandle, naming it Schaeffer Field. After retiring from the oil & gas industry, Lew earned a degree in horticulture. His experience in geology and horticulture allowed Lew to pursue a second dream of becoming a park ranger. He served in the US Forest Service in Boulder, Colorado and the National Park Service at Rocky Mountain National Park, Glacier National Park and Mount Rainier National Park. Lew and Ellie spent 66 happy years raising three wonderful children, having adventures all over the country, including building a cabin as a family in rural Colorado, and traveling the world. Lew was ever the lover of learning and immersed himself in hobbies his whole life, including entomology, coin collecting, model trains, coaching his children's sports teams, radio controlled airplanes, collecting fossils and natural rocks/gems, playing and dealing black jack, native artifacts, tropical fish, woodworking, playing and teaching bridge, and travel. Lew was proud of authoring his autobiography, Wings Over the Pacific , which is in the Library of Congress.

Lew was preceded in death by his parents, his brother, Bill, and sister, Sally.

He is survived by his loving wife, Ellie, his son Jeff (Phuong), daughter Cindy (Helen), son Greg (Michele), and grandchildren, Andrew and Alyssa Schaeffer, Emma, Ellie, Eli and Abigail Schaeffer.

A Funeral Service will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Thursday, October 18, 2018 at Allen Family Funeral Options. He will be laid to rest at Dallas Ft. Worth National Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, please donate to the National WWII Museum, 945 Magazine Street, New Orleans, Louisiana 70130, phone (504) 528-1944 or https://www.nationalww2museum.org/give .