John Schaffer

John Schaffer, age 95, of Wallington, died peacefully on Thursday, July 9, 2020.

The oldest of eleven children born to John and Rosa (Glazer) Schaffer, John was born in Kohanyas, Hungary (a town with 17 homes and buildings including a church and school) where he met his future wife Theresa. The two met in grade school when they were about 6 or 7 years old. John was always worried Theresa thought he wasn’t good enough for her so he went around her and tried to convince her father he was worthy of her hand.  Theresa wasn’t impressed by money, but loved the fact that John had a great bicycle - it even had a seat! She was convinced she could convince her dad John had potential. They fell in love and married in the Kohanyas Church, which sat about twenty people, on March 29, 1948.

John and Theresa secretly talked about emigrating to the United States, but leaving Hungary was no easy task.  At 3 AM on the morning they were heading for the boarder they told their family they were leaving for the United States.  John’s father told him he would never make it with a wife and two kids in tow, but they were determined to make a better life for their children. Their journey started in November of 1956. They ran through fields, paid off people to keep their travels quiet, and eventually made it to the boarders of Austria. They were granted political asylum in the United States and took an eleven day trip on the USS Leon to America. They weathered heavy seas and were all seasick by the time they entered the New York Harbor. John’s son Laszlo remembers awaking early one morning and climbing the stairs of the ship to glimpse at the Statue of Liberty. The family spent a few months in Camp Kilmer in New Brunswick, NJ.  A family member, already in America, was to come and sign them out but the public address system was very poor and they kept mispronouncing the family name. Eventually the family was signed out and settled in Passaic.

John and Theresa started out in America with no money and no knowledge of the English language. They possessed nothing but one precious asset – hope. To most people hope would not be enough. But if you were as determined as John and Theresa were, and encouraged by no longer being under the oppression of a communist regime, hope would be a precious possession!

There was one thing that John was never afraid of and that was work. As a young man living in Hungary, John was a farmer by trade. With no farming happening in Passaic, NJ, John had to find an alternative means of work to provide for him and his family. Consequently, starting out in the United States meant doing whatever work he could find that no one else wanted to do. They turned out to be jobs that would give him skills that he could utilize for the rest of his life. These included working as a helper for carpenters, electricians and plumbers. He eventually landed a steady job as a welder for a company called Falstrom in Passaic. John showed great skill and aptitude as a welder and at one point he was even featured on the cover of a welding trade magazine featuring new welding technology called a heliarc welding machine.

John kept working hard and it paid off. After just seven and a half years in his new country, John and Theresa were able to purchase their first home – a two-family in nearby Garfield. They remained there until moving to Wallington in 1969. Eventually, John landed a job that would turn out to be the one he loved the most. He took a position as the animal caretaker for the Hoffman LaRoche Corporation in Nutley. It would turn out to be the closest he would ever return to his farming roots in the sense that, once again, he was taking care of animals. John loved this job so much, he was regularly at work an hour early every morning. During his career there, John was instrumental in getting many other people jobs at the company. Even his wife Theresa worked for Hoffman LaRoche as a Lab Technician. John finished out his full-time working days there and was able to retire in 1986 at the age of sixty-two.

John was never one to sit still as most evidenced by his love of taking daily walks at the park in Wallington. True to his farming upbringing, John dedicated a large portion of his small yard in Wallington to gardening. If you can name it, John and Theresa grew it back there – prize tomatoes, beans, garlic, cucumbers, lettuce, etc. Their crops were so bountiful, they ended up giving a lot of this fresh delicious produce away. They grew the most beautiful flowers too!

John had been a devoted parishioner of Holy Trinity Church in Passaic for over fifty-seven years. He was a man who walked close with God and his church was one of his greatest connections to that loving God. It was there that the virtues of caring for others was taught and reinforced and John embraced those virtues wholeheartedly. Utilizing all those trade skills he learned when he was starting out in America, John was always ready, willing and able to volunteer to do small repairs and maintenance at the church. John was also known for his willingness to help anyone with a need. Consequently, many were blessed by his small gestures of help, like helping the old widow down the street by taking out her garbage or giving a person who could not drive anymore a ride to a doctor’s appointment. It seemed that John and Theresa were everywhere and one of their favorite pastimes was attending the Hungarian Club in Garfield. They truly enjoyed the cultural camaraderie and were always a big help when it came to organizing the club’s annual festivals and picnics.

John was a true doer, but everything he did was done with great humility. He walked close with God, gave of his time, talents and treasures and would often express that he truly felt more blessed than a millionaire. In fact one of his greatest beliefs about this life, which he freely shared with his family, was that “In life you have to find that point of comfort and peace in your heart where it does not matter what the next person has.” John lived a blessed life and felt truly blessed by God and truly proud and grateful in his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

John was the loving husband of Theresa Schaffer, blessed in marriage for sixty-five years until her passing in 2013. He was the devoted father of Elizabeth Celmer and her husband John of Andover, Laszlo Schaffer and his wife Patty of Williamsburg, VA; cherished grandfather of John Celmer and his wife Anitra, Bonnie Batiuk and her husband Ray, Michael Schaffer and his wife Tammie, Dr. Christine Schaffer and her husband David Cazee, Christopher VanDalinda and his wife Kelly, and Lisa Napora and her husband Krys; much loved great-grandfather of Brandon and Elisa Batiuk, Ariana  and Alexa Schaffer, and Callan and Nolan Cazee; and dear brother of Frank of Budapest, Hungary, Tony of Oraszlany, Hungary and Kati of Oraszlany, Hungary. He was predeceased by his seven other siblings.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations to the Holy Trinity Church, 226 Harrison Street, Passaic, NJ 07055, would be appreciated.