Born Connie Sue Shaffer June 30, 1949 in Hillsboro, Ohio to Wilbur Pierce Shaffer and Ida Mae Shaffer, the middle child between older sister Jeannie (Foster), of Tampa, FL and younger brother Michael Pierce Shaffer, now deceased.
Connie grew up in Wilmington, Ohio and graduated from Wilmington High School in 1967. She attended Ohio University in Athens, Ohio where she resided in the German House and graduated in 1971 with a BA in English and Comparative Literature.
In 1971 Connie married Mulford (Ford) Martin and relocated to Princeton NJ, where she worked until 1976 as a manuscript reader and editor at Princeton University Press.
Connie and Ford then relocated to the California Bay Area, where she worked as a book editor at Wadsworth Publishing in Belmont, Ca, and met her lifelong friend Kate Michels.
Relocating in 1979 to the Seattle area, Connie worked for University of Washington Press on the production side of book publishing followed by several years at Microsoft Corp. where she honed her layout, graphics and editing skills publishing computer manuals. A voracious reader, Connie has read thousands of books and always viewed reading as one of the highest forms of recreation.
In 1992 Connie and Ford adopted Nathaniel as an infant and moved to the Bellingham area, semi-retiring in order to focus on raising Nathaniel, who was later discovered to have several special needs. She advocated strongly for care and services for him and became accomplished at the SEE version of sign language.
Following her divorce in 2002, Connie sought a challenging new pathway and enrolled at Western Washington University in the TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) program and obtained this certificate in 2004. She was subsequently hired to teach in the Korea University program at Western, which involved language and cultural educational opportunities. She generously opened her home for meals and kayak adventures, compiled and edited student-written quarterly summaries of students’ experiences, a colorful and memorable memento of their time in the USA. Connie frequently extended herself well beyond the typical role of teacher and her warmth and inclusiveness made life-long friendships and positive impacts on countless lives.
With the end of the Western contract, Connie shifted gears again and became adjunct faculty at Whatcom Community College, until she left in 2013, which necessitated her departure from the lovely home on Sandy Point to a simpler life in a log house near Cain Lake in Sedro Woolley.
With the move to a smaller home and increasing health challenges, Connie was fortunate to intersect through her local Bellingham Red Cedar Zen Buddhist community, a person who became a part of her family. John Novotny, a talented chef and great help to Connie, is continuing to share responsibility for Nathaniel’s care, while also keeping the home fires burning in Glenhaven. Her friends at Red Cedar Zen offered tremendous emotional, spiritual and physical support throughout her years of declining health. Never complaining but always seeking ways to peacefully travel life’s journey, Connie ultimately fell during the cold, icy weather of early February and suffered a subdural hematoma, which eventually claimed her life on Sunday, February 9.
Connie is survived by her son Nathaniel Pierce Martin, brother Michael’s two daughters Emily and Alex, her sister Jeannie and husband Dave, their two children Paul and Kelly, and Nathaniel’s guardian Ford Martin.
Connie’s body is in the care of Earth Funeral, where online details can be obtained. Her body is being composted and will be returned in springtime, when a memorial will be announced at a later date.
