Martin Frederick “Bill” Schafer

Martin Frederick (Bill) Schafer died on July 17, at home in Juneau, Alaska, with his daughters by his side.

Bill was born on March 1, 1924, in Ritzville. He was named Martin, but was always called “Bill” by his family even before he was born.

He attended Washington State University before he left to serve in the Army Air Corps in WWII in the Pacific as a 1st LT Bombardier/Navigator on the B-24 Liberator.

After returning from the war, he graduated from WSU in 1949 and married Marian Hassel later that year. They moved to Fairbanks, Marian’s hometown, and remained in Alaska for their married life with a couple of short stints in California.

Bill had a career in the travel business that spanned over 40 years. He was able to travel to parts of the world that were just beginning to be opened to tourism. He was in sales and marketing for Pan American World Airways in the early days in Fairbanks, Juneau and San Francisco, Scandinavian Airlines and Northwest Orient Airlines in Anchorage and as an owner of The Travel Center in Anchorage.

Bill served as Director of the Alaska State Travel Division in the Dept. of Economic Development under Governor Hickel in the early 1970’s. During a few years in California he was Director of Marketing for Hughes Airwest before returning to Alaska to finish out his travel career as Traffic Manager for the Alaska Marine Highway System.

After retirement Bill and Marian traveled extensively. They visited every corner of the world, and went to many places twice, except Antarctica. When he wasn’t traveling, Bill enjoyed boating and fishing with friends, he was a life long golfer and especially loved golfing when he and Marian spent winters in Palm Springs and on vacation in Hawaii.

Bill was predeceased by his wife of more than 63 years, Marian Hassel Schafer. He is survived by daughters, Kimberly Schafer of Juneau and Lin (Steve) Sanford of Green Valley, Arizona; sister Betty Schwisow of Moses Lake and her children Paul (Florence) Schwisow of Sprague, Dawn (Chris) Jones of Moses Lake and Jean (Rocky) Debuhr of Spokane and their children. He is also survived by his sister-in-law Patricia Schaefer of Richmond Beach, Washington and her children Jay (Julie) Schaefer of North Bend, Oregon and Jill (Martin) Law of Edmonds and their children.

One of Bill’s favorite places was Sugar Beach in Kihei on Maui, where the family enjoyed vacations for many years. His family will honor his wishes to “be somewhere warm” and he will spend eternity on the beautiful beach.