AMERICAN VETERAN

Oklahoman Archives 
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma County, Oklahoma
July 15, 1971, pg 47

Charles Schaffer Dies at Age of 62
Charles Francis Schaffer. 62, of 1221 Ferguson, died Wednesday at Midwest City Memorial Hospital. Wake will he at 7 pm Thursday al Paylor 's Midwest City Funeral Home. Requiem mass will 1 p.m. Friday al St. Philip Neri Catholic Church with burial in Arlington Memorial Cemetery.

Schaffer, born in Beloit, Kan., moved to Midwest City in 1913. He was a crane operator at Tinker Air Force Base. He was a member of St. Philip Neri Catholic Church.

Survivors include his wife, Lillian; two daughters, Barbara J. Nelson Terrell, Midwest City, and Mrs. Thurman Nelson, Harrah; a son, Donald Charles, Midwest City; two brothers, Fritz, Mankato, Kan., and Francis. Wichita, Kan.; five sisters, Mrs. Leonard Brown, Emporia, Kan.; Mrs. Armel Jones, Salina, Kan.; Mrs. Charles Webb, Flint. Midi., and Mrs. Loretta Crandell and Mrs. Larry Pickitt. both of Kansas City. Kan.; and his father, Fred Schaffer, Wichita,  Kan.

Oklahoman Archives 
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma County, Oklahoma
April 27, 2001, pg 14

SCHAFFER, Pauline I., 86, died Thursday. Services pending (Paylor).

 

     

Oklahoman Archives 
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma County, Oklahoma
December 3, 1964, pg 45

Men flying air force planes throughout the world can, in many cases, thank women at Oklahoma City Air Materiel Area for doing the chores that keep them airborne.

More than 3,800 women do man-sized jobs at OCAMA to keep the air force on the job —worldwide. Many of the women, like Mrs. Zazel Jackson, Mrs. Pauline Schaffer or Mrs. Jewel Griffin, literally do a man's job—and do it well, according to their supervisor.

Mrs. Jackson is a turret lathe operator—has been since 1951. She makes bolts, spacers, bushings and other vital jet engine parts with the precision that ranks her an expert in the field. The Arkansas native, who now lives at 4601 Spencer Rd., began her career in the aircraft business in 1942 at the old Douglas Aircraft plant. Although she's "fascinated" by her work, Mrs. Jackson can still cook up a "mean" meal that always brings her children and their children running. Mrs. Pauline Schaffer, sometimes called "Rosie the Riveter," is a riveter—has been for 16 years. She admits the work is dangerous, but has only one minor accident to her record. She came to Tinker in 1944. Mrs. Schaffer won $100 for her suggestion that a cabinet with drawers be constructed to hold the many different parts used in connection with her work.

The Kansas native lives at 501 E Kerr Dr. in Midwest City with her husband, Charles, who is retired. Mrs. Jewel Griffin is an aircraft mechanic that keeps up with the best of them. She has 15 years' experience at her trade and her supervisor's seal of approval to prove it. Her job includes aircraft fabricating, such as the securing of escape hatches. The Griffins (her husband, J. W., is an interior decorator) live at 125 NW 17.

I honored to work for country," Mrs. Griffin answered when asked why she enjoys her work. The native of Yugoslavia was reared in Ohio and has lived in Oklahoma City 20 years. Before coming to Tinker she worked in photography and dry cleaning. Mrs. Griffin's hobby is reading—with knitting and cooking thrown in as sidelines.

Oklahoman Archives 
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma County, Oklahoma
July 19, 1948, pg 41
 

Crane Operator Prefers Work At Tinker Air Depot to Farming

TOTE that engine! Lift that lathe!

It's all in a day's work for 14 men at the Tinker air depot who gets the orders and carry them out. even if the item to be "toted" weighs 5,000 pounds

But they don't have to "sweat and strain" like in "Old Man River." They operate a fleet of overhead cranes in the huge air-conditioned depot and lift the huge loads with pulleys and levers.

Riding in small cabs on the cranes up in the ceiling over the former Douglas plant, the operators can pick up loads and deliver them to nearly any part of the huge building in a few minutes

However, though the work is not "back-breaking," the operators have to Know their cranes, for it would be easy to lob a B-29 engine into a line of equipment and mess up things considerably.

Charles F. Schaffer. 38, Midwest City, is lead man over cranes and doors. His job is to dispatch cranes when they are needed and see that there are operators on the doors at all times. The doors—as well as the cranes—are operated by electric motors. .

Schaffer was a farmer in Beloit, Kan. until eight years ago. He liked farming all right, but likes operating cranes belter, wouldn't quit and RO back to farming for anything, he said.

He started operating cranes In Cloud county, Kan., on a pile driving Job and has kept it, up ever since Shaffer came to Tinker five years ago. "This is fine equipment here It doesn't take but about five minutes to load an engine on a truck if everything is ready." he said.

Born in Beloit, Kan., he was raised on a farm. But now he has given up the rural life altogether.

"There isn't much we can't do with these cranes," he said. Spot welding machinery is about the heaviest equipment the cranes have lifted. They weigh more than 5,000 pounds.

There are 26 traveling overhead cranes in the plant, eight of them assigned to engine repair to use on the production lines. However, the regular crane crews keep them in good working order.

"No. I'm going to stick with this I don't want to go back to farming," said Schaffer.