Bainbridge Island has lost a wonderful friend and community treasure. Jo Schaffer started a new journey on Sept. 22, 2016 after a short illness.

She was born Joann Harrington in Escanaba, Michigan.

Jo graduated from the University of Missouri with a degree in journalism. She continued her education earning a master’s degree in library science from the University of Michigan. After graduation, she joined the faculty of Lake Forest College north of Chicago where she met her husband Doug Lee. Their children Bill and Kyra soon followed.

After Doug passed away Jo met and married Fred Schaffer. Jo and Fred visited longtime friends Lyla and John Doyle who lived on Bainbridge Island. They decided it would be a great place to retire so they moved to the island in 1984. 

Jo immediately started her new career as a volunteer. She began at Bainbridge Arts and Crafts where she met and became friends with those in the art community. Shortly after, she joined the Home Rule group that was promoting a change in Bainbridge Island’s government. 

Her next step was to become part of the committee to acquire the Grand Forest. After that successful campaign, she continued to work on land protection and was part of nearly every effort to add parks and open space to the island inventory. She served on the board of the Bainbridge Island Land Trust where she put in an immense number of volunteer hours for more than 25 years.

Being a librarian she volunteered many, many hours at the Bainbridge Island public library. Jo served on the library board and was instrumental in helping raise money for the new library building. She also established the library at IslandWood and was the volunteer librarian where she catalogued and shelved books, researched new materials and helped graduate students. Jo volunteered more than 2,500 hours at IslandWood.

Along the way she also found time to support Helpline House and served on the board of One Call For All. Jo was always the first to say, “I can do that.” She was tireless in helping whoever needed her assistance.

She had friends all over the island because of her various activities. She made many friends at Barnaby Stables where she rode or tended her horse, Skip, every day for many years. And she had her Battle Point Park friends who she met for morning and afternoon dog walks. 

Family was very important to Jo. She loved visiting her daughter Kyra and family outside Chicago. She usually visited several times a year to “help” with Kyra’s dogs and horses and spend time with her granddaughter, Lyla. When the Harry Potter books came out Jo read them with Lyla over the phone. She also traveled with her son, Bill, to many antique shows helping him with his business. She and her sister, Edie, were fortunate to travel to England last spring to visit Edie’s family.