RIP Bill Schuffenhauer, We Will Honor Your Final Wishes

My name is Connie Fuller Wright, and Bill (William) Schuffenhauer,

(pictured here with Andy, our once feral cat,) was my beloved fiancee.....We had planned on getting married while Bill was in the hospital this last time, but he lost his life battle before this could happen. Initially we first became friends in 1965, when we were just 13 and 12 years old (a brief first time summer romance, before we went our separate ways, lol) - but became BFF, 49 years later in 2009.

Bill was a gentle, non-judgmental, non-sexist and dignified man who treated everyone with respect. His favorite pastime was turning his yard into a landscaping wonderland. Bill planted many ornamental trees, from an Alaskan Weeping Cedar, a Weeping Birch, a Snow Fountain Weeping Cherry, an Ornamental Pink Blossomed Cherry Tree, Some Maples, a Holly Tree, one Lavender and one White Lavender Tree, one green and one red Japanese Mini Bonsai Maples, a large Paperback Maple, and many more varieties of trees. He planted the trees, along with Rhododendrons of many colors, and other ornamental bushes, all over 30 years ago! So, you can imagine what an enchanting eye-catching site Bill left us in the Spring and Summer months, when the trees and bushes have all either blossomed or leaved out. And the trees, except for the Bonsai's, are 30 years tall....

Bill was a First Response Officer at the Corrections Center in Shelton, until he had to retire because of Carcinoid Cancer. He loved his job and stayed with it as long as he could until the pain took over.

Bill was in the hospital many times in his last 3 years from his Cancer, which he was diagnosed with having since 2015. And sent him to the hospital so many times I've lost track. His friends and I called him our ENERGIZER BUNNY because he beat "the devil" so many times...But not this time.....Bill died on Sept 29, 2024, at 6:03 PM, in Providence Hospital in Lacey, Washington, with me cradling his head as he took his last breath......

This time Bill was having a hard time breathing, and his lung collapsed because the tumors had reached them. He died of respiratory distress - he could not breathe on his own anymore.

Bill, not on purpose, left many debts unpaid, most of them hospital bills. Even with Medicare paying %80 percent, the bills continued to rack up.....And Bill was struggling financially during the last few years - trying to pay everything, mortgage and his medical debts.

I am named the beneficiary of his Will, and he willed me the house where he had resided for the past 32 years. He wanted me to remain here after he was gone.

Not knowing that, according to the archaic probate laws in this state, his home, nor anything else, including his cherished 2007 Mustang, could not be passed onto me legally if he left debts upon his death...And debts he left behind, not on purpose, I can attest to this.

I am afraid that the mortgage company can either try to evict me or put a lien on the home. Even though I have been paying these last months mortgages using my own account. The home is not in my name along with Bill's. And I can not legally inherit his home until I find a way to get all the back debts paid off.

Please help me get his past bills paid, especially his medical bills, before I lose his home.....Everything which you donate will go directly to Bill's bank account to be used for paying off his debts. I have not closed his account for this reason....

I am just on Social Security and Disability. And I don't have the extra money to pay off his debts. For those who don't personally know me, I suffered a severe ischemic stroke in 2016 which destroyed the use of my right arm and hand. Bill was my ROCK, doing everything he, and I combined, could do to help me regain function of both, but we didn't succeed.

Everyone who knew Bill loved him - And I, along with many others, miss him so much, and I am so lonely without hearing his gentle voice, or see him working in his beloved yard.

Thank you again so much for considering helping me pay off his debts, and I totally understand if you want to take a pass....

Connie (Fuller) Wright

If you do not want to use GOFUNDME, you may send cash, or a check, payable to Connie Wright, to the following address: William Schuffenhauer/Connie Wright PO BOX 2521 Shelton, Wa 98584. I have not closed Bill's bank account and everything you send will go straight into his account to pay off his debts. So far, with the checks, cash and the money collected from GOFUNDME, I have been able to pay off his radiology debt and a few other debts. THANK YOU SO MUCH! His biggest debt, though, is his hospital debt, and I just received his final Providence bill last week.

Everything which I have stated can be verified. I can assure you, this is not a scam in any way.

Danke viel mal......(Thank you very much)

Connie (Fuller) Wright