WATERLOO - David Shafer doesn't need directions to whip up a batch of Betty Crocker brownies.

He knows just how much oil and how many eggs are needed to get the powdered mix to turn into a gooey chocolate mass ready for baking. His angel food and Bundt cakes aren't bad either, according to his mother, Mary Jane Shafer.

"He lived with us until 1987, so I never baked a cake for many years," she said. "Even after he moved out, he would still make them for us once in awhile."

Shafer, who is developmentally disabled, has found a little extra time for his favorite pastime since retiring from the University of Northern Iowa after working about 31 years in the Maucker Union kitchen.

Each day Shafer, 52, would catch a bus near his Waterloo apartment and travel downtown to the transfer station, where he would switch to the Cedar Falls route. He worked about 3 1/2 hours a day, five days a week, washing dishes in the kitchen and picking up trays in the dining area.

Shafer saw many changes in food service at the Union - including ownership changing hands three times - but his task remained the same.

"I did pots and pans," he said.

Carolyn Young, the Union's food service manager, said Shafer was a "dependable and conscientious" employee.

"I got to know him on a personal level. I even went to his 50th birthday party. He was an employee, but also like a friend," she said.

Shafer found the job with the help of Goodwill Industries in 1977, shortly after he graduated from high school.

"We were so tickled that he got a job," Mary Jane said. "Bob (David's father) and I really appreciated the support and patience of the staff and students at UNI."

Mary Jane said that support was especially important when Shafer was having health issues. He had a large tumor removed from under his left arm in 2006 and now battles lymphodema in that arm. Mary Jane said if Shafer hadn't retired when he did, it is likely this injury would have forced him to quit.

The condition, which has resulted in the swelling of his left arm, is treated with physical therapy and an elastic arm sleeve but would have made it almost impossible for Shafer to wash dishes daily.

But the lymphodema has not kept Shafer from staying busy through his retirement. He currently participates in the CHOICE Day Services program through Exceptional Persons Inc. and takes regular field trips through the organization. His favorite: the Mall of America.

Vicki Hemseth, EPI program manager, said Shafer is counted as one of the many success stories in this community, in part because of the support from his parents.

"They have always encouraged him to be independent," Hemseth said. "Some parents don't challenge their children as much as Mary Jane and Bob have. They think that because their son or daughter has a disability they can't do things. We really wish that more parents could be like them."

Contact Emily Christensen

at (319) 291-1570

or emily.christensen@wcfcourier.com.