As anyone who spent any time with him does, I have MANY great Monty stories.  I think my favorite one, however, goes back to a trip we took down to bike week in Ocean City, Maryland.


About half a dozen of us had gone down to OC, and we were really living it up.  We drank hard, played hard, and laughed much - business as usual.  This trip stood out to me though because of all of the practical jokes we were playing on each other.  As you can well imagine, Monty was pretty much one-up on everyone, myself included.  I was determined to nail him on a good one.  Just once, I wanted to see him lose that preternatural cool of his.


One evening, my fellow bikers and I thought it might be nice to eat at one of the many buffets.  We chose Paul Revere's, and I can tell you that at $20/person, they didn't make any money on us.  As Monty went up for his third or fourth refill at the buffet, he foolishly left his full cup of coffee (see Greg Smith's story) behind at the table unattended.  There was a table full of about 8 girls next to ours in the restaurant, and I asked them if I could borrow their salt shaker under the premise that I didn't want Monty to notice that ours was empty, but really so that I could rope more people into the viewing of Monty's undoing.  They readily agreed, and I proceeded to empty about half of it into his coffee.  I can assure you that his coffee was at least 10 times as briney as the ocean was 100 yards from where we sat.


Sure enough, Monty soon returned to the table, and somewhere around 20 people surreptitiously held their breath as he reached for his coffee mug.  He raised the cup to his lips and took in a copious swig of the swill.  Instead of spitting out the coffee and reeling with disgust, Monty sat the mug down and sat as though he had just sloshed down some pineapple punch.


I said, "My God, man!  Didn't you taste that?!?"  He looked over at me and gave me a slight nod, yes.  Among the looks of amazement boring into Monty and his smoothe demanor I asked, "Well, then.  What the hell are you doing?"


With the wretched coffee still clearly in his mouth he said stiltedly, "I'm twying ma bes' no' ta frow up!"


The back of the restaurant fell out at this proclamation, and I don't think I ever laughed that hard in my life.  Later, as I reflected on this (many times) it did eventually dawn on me - there was no shaking this guy.  Not once in our entire relationship had he ever backed down to anyone or anything nor lost his cool in the face of adversity.  If I have learned one thing from you, my friend, it is this: never surrender!  Thank you for everything Monty.  I love you.          

Sir, I just heard the news and I am completely shocked and very saddened by your passing. You were a great person to work with and a great person to know. I will truly miss talking to you sir!


Monty Shafer rules! 

I was on my first deployment to MCAS Yuma and I had no idea what i was in for. Monty saw me standing and he walked up to me and introduces himself to me and askes me if I was on my first deployment. I replied i just got here and this was my first deployment anywhere. He put his arm around me and said "No worries bro i got your back. Your with me." We went to Yuma and we got the same room together. We had a blast for six weeks culminating to a trip to Mexico. I have a picture of the lovely ladies that hung out with me and him that night. Because of that kindness we developed a friendship that has lasted since. Through all his highs and lowsand mine we maintained a bond from that day on. I miss you my brother. I feel robbed that the lord got you before one last adventure together. I love you man. I will be there to relieve you someday. Man yiur post Marine. I love you. 

Back in '03 or '04 or so, Monty worked as an instructor for us at Advanced Computer Technology Training (ACTT).  Besides his being an excellent instructor, there are two things I will always remember about Monty:  his love of coffee, and his style of teaching (think Marine drill instructor)!


When I was teaching in a classroom near Monty, I could hear him leading his class to his goal:  "You WILL learn TCP/IP!"  And, of course, no one dared to disobey him!    During one Saturday class, I heard him (from the next room, mind you) tell his class that if they didn't get the sample problem on the white board correct, they would have to do push-ups.  A little later, someone apparently got the problem wrong, and I could hear the class start laughing -- and Monty saying, "No, no, you don't REALLY have to do push-ups!"  


Now I like my coffee in the morning, but to Monty, it was a necessity -- I can't remember ever seeing him without a cup of coffee in his hand!  One day he complained that the coffee was "off" -- and later discovered that our receptionist had washed (gasp!) the coffee pot!  Monty claimed you should NEVER wash a coffee pot -- rinse it well, maybe wipe it out once in a while, but NO SOAP!  Since I didn't believe he could really tell it had been washed, we secretly tested him.  Yep, he could actually tell the difference!   When I said, "Someone must have told you we washed the pot," he said, "What, you'll believe James Bond can identify a wine by taste, but you don't believe I can taste the soap???"  Monty won!

When ACTT was about to close and money was tight, Monty offered to teach his last two scheduled classes for free.  I didn't feel right about that, so Monty suggested we give him the extra 2-pot Bunn coffeemaker in exchange for  teaching the classes.  A deal was made!

I will remember Monty every time I drink a cup of coffee -- here's to you, my friend!