James "Jim" Shaffer was born on May 21, 1953, in Postville, Iowa. His family moved to Vinton, Iowa where he atten ­ded the Iowa Braille and Sight Sav ­ing School. Jim ¢â‚¬â„¢s father was a farmer.

Jim was an amaz ­ing per ­son. While in high school, Jim was a for ­eign exchange stu ­dent in Argen ­tina. He could still speak and under ­stand Span ­ish!

Des ­pite being born blind, he gradu ­ated magna cum laude from Luther Col ­lege with a double major in phys ­ics and math. He moved to Aus ­tin in 1980 to work as a soft ­ware engin ­eer. He retired from IBM in 2008 after 30 years of ser ­vice.

He was mar ­ried to Julie Ryder for 10 years and briefly mar ­ried to Jody Shaf ­fer. In Octo ­ber of 1997, he mar ­ried Lynn Vaughan.

Jim was an avid ham oper ­ator and atten ­ded many inter ­na ­tional ham con ­ven ­tions. He also wrote soft ­ware for blind ham oper ­at ­ors.

In addi ­tion, he also played fiddle, man ­dolin and gui ­tar. He played fiddle in a num ­ber of bluegrass bands includ ­ing The Johnny Bur ­nett Trio, Bor ­rowed Time, Piney Grove Ram ­blers and Geezer Grass. Jim enjoyed going on many ocean cruises includ ­ing ones to Scand ­inavia and the Brit ­ish Isles. He was fun-lov ­ing, gen ­er ­ous, and had a good sense of humor.

Jim passed away on Decem ­ber 2nd from com ­plic ­a ­tions of Par ­kin ­son ¢â‚¬â„¢s Dis ­ease. We would like to thank the staff of the Prim ­rose Assisted Liv ­ing for their care of Jim.

Jim is sur ­vived by his wife, Lynn Vaughan, son Kevin and wife LaTi ­erra and grand ­son Alister, sis ­ter Carol Geater and brother-in-law Hank Vaughan. He is also sur ­vived by pets Wally, Rusty, and Brindi.

In lieu of flowers please con ­trib ­ute to the Health Alli ­ance for Aus ­tin Musi ­cians (HAAM): www.myhaam.org or the Par ­kin ­son ¢â‚¬â„¢s Found ­a ­tion: www.par ­kin ­son.org. Fond memor ­ies and expres ­sions of sym ­pathy may be shared on his trib ­ute page at www.Aus ­tin ­Nat ­ur ­al ­Fu ­ner ­als.com

He will be missed.