The handheld video posted to social media shows Daniel Schaffert striding through the woods carrying his fishing gear while a friend can be heard grumbling off-camera.
“Five more minutes, I swear,” Schaffert says, cheerfully.
“You said that an hour and a half ago,” the friend replies.
Family and friends said this was a very “Daniel” moment, one that displayed both his immense charm, his powers of persuasion and a truly epic love of fishing.
“He lived for fishing,” mother Julie Schaffert said, describing how her oldest son would get up at 5 a.m. on a day when he was working a 4 p.m. shift, just to get some fishing in.
Father, Thorsten Schaffert, said his son developed a knowledge of that sport that eclipsed his own.
“He knew way more about fishing than me,” Thorsten said.
Father and son were planning to buy a boat together, one that could get into shallow water where the good fishing is.
“That’s not going to happen, now,” he said, sadly.
Instead, Daniel Schaffert’s family and his many friends are preparing to attend a memorial service on Thursday, for the 24-year-old Langley resident, who died in a Feb. 9 crash on 200 Street.
Schaffert was a passenger in a Ford Escort, driven by a 28-year-old man, that crossed into the oncoming lanes on 200 Street near 80 Avenue shortly after midnight on Feb. 9.
A few days before the service, a friend, Chris Oliver, dropped by the Schaffert family home with an elaborate new tattoo on one arm, one that took five hours to apply.
It shows the initial D.S. for Daniel Schaffert, wrapped around a fishing rod and reel.
Several other friends are planning to get memorial tattoos as well, Oliver said.
Oliver said his friend introduced him to fishing, and they made some challenging trips into the back woods in Schaffert’s slightly battered 2006 Honda Civic.
“We took that Honda places where it never should have gone,” Oliver said.
Schaffert was about to complete his training as a journeyman electrician.
He knew how to safely work around industrial-strength electrical substations packing a 500,000-volt punch.
In order to get his ticket, he needed to upgrade his modest math skills and, with the aid of his math-literate youngest brother Nick, he managed.
Middle brother, Alex, recalled how Daniel once amused himself by imitating the distinctive laugh of a cousin and learned it so well, it became the way he laughed, all the time.
He said Daniel was a doting uncle to Kianna, Alex’s three-year-old daughter.
Daniel Schaffert was a leap year baby, which meant his birthday only came up once every four years, which, technically, made him younger than his 10-year-old sister, Sophie, at least in terms of the number of birthdays.
Tributes to Schaffert are pouring in on Facebook.
He “truly knew how to brighten a room and make everyone laugh,” Jhordan Bowman wrote in a public post.
“Dan lived his life enjoying every minute to the fullest, always bringing happiness to everyone around him. Everyday was a new adventure and (he) never backed down to try new things. A part of me is gone and will always be missed by me and everyone else who knew Daniel Schaffert,” wrote another friend, Brandon Rogan.
“You were one of the most genuine and fun guys I have ever enjoyed spending time with,” wrote Luke Champagne.
“Thank you for showing me your passion for life (life = fishing) and igniting mine.”
A memorial service for family and friends of Daniel Schaffert will be held at 2 p.m. at the Christian Life Assembly in Langley at 21277 56 Ave. on Thursday, Feb. 23.
– Dan Ferguson and Miranda Gathercole
Below: Daniel Schaffert’s father Thorsten built this memorial for his son and placed it at the site of the Feb. 9 traffic accident. The family is planning a memorial service for Thursday. Photo courtesy Schaffert family.
