By rssfeeds-admin Whities’ pets manager and prolific Fresno drummer John Shafer passed away in March 2025, but friends and family were not quite ready to say goodbye.
Over the weekend, John’s immediate family organized a celebration of life at Pat Wolk’s backyard garden in Fresno to give friends and extended family a chance to honor his legacy.
Shafer’s daughter, Lindsay Coleman, and her sister, Brooke Russell, agree that their father was a talented musician and a devout animal lover who dedicated his life to serving those passions.
“Our father has been in Fresno for most of his life, he ran Whitie’s Pets every day,” Russell said. “Besides that, he was an amazing drummer.”
Coleman says her father even traveled to other countries as a musician and performed at iconic venues around the world.
“He was with a band called Blake Jones and the Trike Shop,” Coleman said. “They got to go to Liverpool and they played at the Cavern Club, which is actually where the Beatles were discovered.”
Coleman says her father also traveled to Fiji and across Europe with other bands, but he never forgot to care for his furry friends at home.
“He was a dog guy, he had a huge love for animals,” Coleman said.
Russell says her father’s love for animals and people knew no bounds; the most important thing to him was that he not receive recognition for his good deeds, but that the good deeds get done.
“Whether he was filling jackets for the homeless with granola bars in the pocket so they’d have something to eat or whatever he did, he didn’t want recognition,” Russell said. “He did it selflessly, just purely out of the love of his heart.”
Coleman and Russell say it was clear to see that, though their father never asked for recognition, his good deeds and kind heart did not go unnoticed, given the outstanding turnout of guests at Pat Wolk’s backyard garden.
“The outpouring of love that everybody’s had has been very emotional,” Coleman said. “It’s a bigger turnout than I thought – I think it’s beautiful and it really speaks volumes to who he was.”
Though the evening brought tears to the eyes of many at the thought of never seeing John again, his daughters say people were dancing, singing and celebrating – just like their father would have wanted.
“A lot of people say, you know, you have to prepare for death and prepare to go to the other side,” Coleman said. “But my dad wasn’t like that. He was living for today and wanted to live his life to the fullest, and he did.”
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