Dave Shaver

Colonel Dave Shaver, age 80, Crown Point, IN passed away on November 9, 2022. He is survived by his loving wife Mary Ann of 51 years marriage, their daughter, Ashley Putnam Shaver of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and two sisters- Helen (Robert) Kelley of Melbourne, FL and Susan (Jack) Rodber of Jupiter, FL and Dave’s sisters’ children and grandchildren, and lots of cousins. His parents were Robert M. (Bob) Shaver and Margaretta (Dolly) Shaver of Crown Point and Zephyrhills, FL. Colonel Shaver was a soldier, author, educator, and a loving husband and father. He was a friend to many, particularly to those with whom he served during his 30 years of military service. Starting his Army career as a Private E-1 in the District of Columbia Army National Guard, he retired as a Regular Army Full Colonel. He commanded companies in Vietnam and in Germany, and commanded the oldest and most decorated 1st Engineer Battalion, 1st Infantry Division (Big Red One) at Fort Riley, Kansas and the 12th Engineer Battalion, 8th Infantry Division in West Germany. He was particularly proud of the latter command since the battalion won every award his division, corps and theater of operations had to offer in safety, reenlistment, maintenance and the prestigious Best German-American Friendship Award, presented to him by Minister President Richard von Weizsacker of the Free Republic of Germany (West Germany). Colonel Shaver used his “bully pulpit” as Commander to insist that every soldier went for one year of college while stationed on his ‘Kaserne.’ He was selected for Brigade Command in 1992 and was installed into the Engineer Officer Candidate School Hall of Fame in that same year. He was a graduate of the US Army Engineer School, the Command and General Staff College, the Army Management School, the Defense Language Institute and the Army War College. After graduating from the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania he remained at the college and taught Command, Leadership and Management to the army’s future leaders, including several who became Generals. His primary duty at the war college was serving as a Strategic Research Analyst in the Strategic Studies Institute-the Army’s “think tank.” He published more than 20 studies, including one which included his prediction that the Berlin Wall would come down 18 months before it actually happened (the only known accurate prediction at the time). He also co-authored a book entitled “On Disarmament: The Role of Conventional Arms Control in National Security Strategy,” written from experience as a Joint Chiefs of Staff Arms Control Negotiator in Vienna, Austria. For his efforts he was awarded faculty tenure and the General of the Army Douglas MacArthur Academic Chair of Research. His military decorations include the Legion of Merit with 1st Oak leaf Cluster, the Bronze Star Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal with 3 Oak Leaf Clusters, the Army Commendation Medal with 3 Oak Leaf Clusters, the Army Achievement Medal and several campaign and service medals. In civilian life he was a class of 1960 graduate of Crown Point High School (IN), where he participated in athletics, student government, class plays, band, the National Honor Society, and attended the American Legion-sponsored Hoosier Boys State, and served as an Indiana State Senate Page. He attended Colgate University, graduated from the University of Nebraska, Omaha and attained a Master of Science degree in Traffic and Transportation Management from the Florida Institute of Technology. In his after- Army life he served multi-billionaire Ross Perot as Perot’s State Director (CEO) of United We Stand America, PA, Inc., and later as Perot’s Pennsylvania Presidential Campaign Manager in the 1996 run. He also helped his family of Lake County, Indiana car dealers establish an auto repair business for Shaver Preferred Motors. He later served several years as a military contractor, serving as a U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command official field observer of the modular force structure design, travelling to nearly every army division headquarters and the national training centers. Concurrently, he wrote more than 380 newspaper columns from the 9/11 attacks until his journalistic retirement in 2017. His columns concerned National Security and politics. He worked for the Midwest newspapers of the Small Newspaper Group, including at the time the Kankakee Daily- Journal, Ottawa Times, Moline Post- Dispatch, Rock Island Argus, Quad City Times of Illinois and Iowa, and the Rochester, MN Post- Bulletin. Colonel Dave and Mary Ann moved back to his old hometown of Crown Point in 1998 where they became members of the 1st Presbyterian Church, the Old Homestead Preservation Society, Youche Country Club, the Gary Sportsman Club, American Legion Post #20 in Crown Point and later Post #261 in Cedar Lake, Veterans of Foreign Wars Post #1563 in Merrillville, the Cedar Lake Yacht Club, the Army Heritage Foundation, and the Army War College Alumni Foundation. Throughout his life he had a twinkle in his eye, and would always try to inject humor into often difficult situations, on and off the “battlefields” of life. His success rate was actually pretty high. A memorial visitation will be held on Saturday, November 19, 2022, from 11:00 a.m. until time of memorial service at 1:00 p.m. at Burns Funeral Home & Crematory, 10101 Broadway, Crown Point, IN. Rev. John Starr officiating. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to www.legion.org. www.burnsfuneral.com.

Dave Shaver

May 5, 1942 - November 9, 2022