Andy Shaffer ’68 and His Wife Betty Are Giving Their Entire Estate to West Point

Hugh A. “Andy” Shaffer graduated from West Point in 1968 and is a decorated war veteran who taught engineering at the Academy for three years. He and his wife Betty, who joined the Army in 1984 as a registered nurse, both speak passionately about the place they call “an American icon.” Married for 52 years and with no children, the Shaffers are creating their legacy with a trust that gives their entire estate to West Point.

“West Point is not a place, it is an ideal,” Betty says. “When I walk on the plain and just stand there, I start crying. It’s hard to explain, but it just grabs me on every emotional and intellectual level. I loved living and being in a place that was so honest.”

The Shaffers have a longstanding charitable remainder unitrust that provides them with income for life, with the remainder going to the West Point Association of Graduates (WPAOG) to support the Academy. A more recent trust owns all of their assets—house, bank accounts, investments, cars—which all will go to support West Point. The funds will benefit the track team for which Andy competed, the cycling club (both Shaffers are avid cyclists), and the mule riders spirit support club that cares for the Army mules (Betty is an animal lover).

From Army brat to warrior

Andy grew up an “Army brat,” living in Germany, Japan, and several U.S. states. While a cadet, he ran on the track team and played 150-pound football. He particularly liked studying German—taught by a World War II German Army officer—and engineering; his mechanics class was taught by a “huge and scary” major who went on to become a famous general: H. Norman Schwarzkopf Jr. ’56.

“I still live by the West Point Cadet Prayer: ‘Make us to choose the harder right, instead of the easier wrong,’ ” Andy says. “The first time I walked on the plain wearing a dress uniform where Pershing, Eisenhower, and Patton stood—on the same ground wearing the same uniform I was wearing—it put goose bumps up and down my back.”

After receiving his bachelor of science degree, Andy served more than 13 years on active duty; he was in combat in Vietnam with the 10th Armored Cavalry Regiment and was awarded three Bronze Star Medals and the Air Medal. He taught engineering at West Point and assisted in the development and testing of the M-1 Main Battle Tank.

Andy retired from the Army in 1981 as a major and went into the oil and gas business in Texas, where Betty grew up. He eventually became vice president of operations and engineering for El Paso Field Services Company, retiring from business in 2003.

Andy meets Betty

Andy met Betty because her older sister Barbara was engaged to Andy’s West Point roommate, Dave Gerard, whom Andy calls “the crazy brother I never had.”

“It was the summer after I graduated from high school, and I think my future brother-in-law paid Andy to take me out,” Betty recalls with a laugh. “We went to a really bad movie—The Pirates of Snake Island—but the company was great. And it didn’t hurt that the guys were wearing those good-looking uniforms.”

They dated all through college—with Betty attending the University of El Paso, where she earned a history degree.

“In April of 1969 we got engaged; and in April of 1970, while I was in Vietnam, we met in Hawaii while I was on R&R and got married,” Andy recalls.

Teaching at West Point

Andy earned his master of science in mechanical engineering from the University of Texas at Austin in 1974, and the Shaffers spent three years at West Point while he taught engineering. Betty loved it, attending every parade and sponsoring cadets with Andy.

“When you sponsor cadets, your home becomes their ‘safe place,’ ” Betty recalls. “We started out sponsoring five cadets but ended up with a whole bunch more. Seniors would show up at dinnertime, and they would work on their cars in our driveway. Even if we weren’t there, it was fine for them to come in; we never locked our door. We would find them sleeping on the couch, with our refrigerator empty. There is not one thing at West Point that I don’t love. If you were going to cut me, I would bleed gray.”

The experience inspired Betty to consider joining the Army; first she went back to school in El Paso to earn her nursing degree.

Admissions reps in Texas

In 1984 Andy became a West Point admissions representative for the El Paso area, where the late Colonel James “Buster” Hayden was in charge for 35 years.

“All of the field reps were men who had been in the Army, but Buster decided that I would be good at it too,” Betty says. “He just brought me along—and if any of the other reps asked about it, he said, ‘She is with me; and if you don’t like it, you don’t need to be doing admissions.’ ”

That experience, combined with her time at West Point, settled it for Betty—and she joined the Army.

“El Paso was a great place to grow up, but there was not a lot of talk about ethics,” Betty says. “I don’t think most people went about their life purposefully, thinking ‘I am going to be honorable.’ West Point gave me the guidelines to live the life I knew I should be living.”

Twenty years ago, the Shaffers moved 300 miles east to Midland, Texas. “Before we even closed on our house, there was a box of admissions materials on the front porch,” Andy laughs. “Buster had us scheduled for a college admissions fair, and we didn’t even know where the college was.”

Now they have been following the West Point students they worked with for more than 30 years.

Andy helped with the statue of Thomas Jefferson that is featured in the center of the rotunda of Jefferson Hall, the library constructed in 2008 and funded by the Class of ’68.

“In the conceptual drawings the statue was the same as the one at the Jefferson Memorial,” Andy says. “But we had a classmate, James Muir, who had become a world-renowned sculptor. I and several other people started politicking, and he was chosen for the statue,” which depicts Jefferson signing the bill that created the U.S. Military Academy in 1802.

Giving back has been easy

In addition to their volunteer work, the Shaffers are regular donors to West Point—including the charitable remainder unitrust that they established quite a few years ago.

“I had a whole bunch of various stocks and stuff that I had acquired since I was a second lieutenant, and we didn’t want to go through the hassle of dealing with the capital gain on it,” Andy explains. “So I thought that if I give it all to the Academy, I don’t have to worry about any of that. And it was very simple to set up, very painless. Even the living trust with our assets was easy. The biggest problem was making sure every single asset we own is owned by the trust, so we could give it all to West Point.”

“We don’t have any children,” Betty adds. “You generally leave your estate to the people who mean the most to you. And to us, that is West Point.”

“To this day I live by the cadet honor code,” Andy says. “There are all kinds of things you can donate to, but to donate to an American icon like West Point is an honor. Without it I doubt we would be the nation we are today.”