Longtime Cedar Hill Fire Protection District firefighter Marvin Shaffrey died Nov. 2 from COVID-19, at age 55.
Shaffrey had been with the fire district for 42 years, as either a paid employee or volunteer. His death is considered an in-line-of-duty death because he may have contracted the virus on the job. Backstoppers, a nonprofit organization that assists families of firefighters, police and other first responders who die or are seriously injured in the line of work, has reached out to help Shaffrey’s wife, Anastasia “Stacey” Shaffrey, 53, of Cedar Hill.
Stacey said her husband was known for helping others.
“He was the kindest, gentlest soul,” she said. “He not only took care of his family, but he took care of everyone else, and he loved doing it. It was never a burden at three o’clock in the morning. If somebody called who needed something, he would be there.”
Stacey said her husband developed a fever and congestion in late September and tested positive for COVID-19 on Oct. 3. She took him to SSM Health St. Clare Hospital in Fenton on Oct. 9 after he started having trouble breathing.
The next day he was placed on a ventilator. His oxygen levels improved, and he was placed on a tracheostomy ventilator, but then his oxygen level worsened.
Stacey said her husband did not have any major medical condition and was active before contracting COVID-19.
Stacey said she is vaccinated against COVID-19, but her husband chose not to get the vaccine.
She said Nov. 4 that her husband’s death “doesn’t seem real.”
“He’s been my best friend since the beginning, and it’s been unbelievable,” she said. “I don’t know how to live without him. My heart breaks for my girls to grow up without their dad.”
Stacey said they adopted their daughters Lily, 16, in 2006 and Ella, 13, in 2009, both from China.
“His girls were his world,” Stacey said. “He would do anything and everything for them.”
Shaffrey and Stacey would have celebrated their 34th wedding anniversary on Nov. 28. They met at a church picnic at Our Lady Queen of Peace Catholic Church in House Springs in 1984 and were married at the church.
“It was pretty much love at first sight,” she said. “After we started our first date, we were pretty inseparable.”
Shaffrey first got involved at Cedar Hill Fire as a junior firefighter in October 1979, when he was 13, and the district hired him as a paid employee in May 1991, Cedar Hill Fire Assistant Chief David Jones said.
In January 2002, Shaffrey retired as a paid firefighter, but continued with the district as a volunteer. In February 2018, he was promoted to battalion chief, Jones said.
“He was a teacher, mentor and a friend to many,” Jones said. “I was saddened by the news of his passing.”
Jones said Shaffrey’s passing leaves a “huge hole in our organization.”
“Marvin always looked for the good in everyone,” Jones said.
Stacey said her husband loved being a firefighter.
“It was his calling from such a young age,” she said. “He was able to embrace it and he stayed with it.”