Kaffenbarger spent nearly 44 years as a German Twp. trustee.
Dr. Martin Cook worked with Kaffenbarger in the group Citizens for Wise Approaches To Environmental Resources, better known as CF Water.
“I’ve always thought a lot of Lamar,” Cook said. “He was sometimes quite effusive. When he had an opinion, he let you know it.”
Cook admired Kaffenbarger’s willingness to do unpaid work for CF Water at a moment’s notice.
“When you asked him to do something, it would get done,” he said.
CF Water’s primary task in decades past has been to protect local aquifers from the possible effects of the Tremont City landfill and barrel fill.
Kaffenbarger retired in 1987 after 27 years of work with Columbia Gas of Ohio, having worked as a welder and servicer of the company’s equipment. He then owned a welding and digging business.
His name is on the roster of many local organizations that benefit youth and athletics.
German Twp. trustees say they will appoint a replacement for Kaffenbarger, who helped plan its original fire and police departments, in the coming weeks.
“He was retired, but yet, for the township, he would get up every morning and go check roads, and visit people who called with maybe an issue they had,” said Kaffenbarger’s son, Rodney. “He really wanted to do what was right for the people.”
As his health began to decline several months ago, Kaffenbarger’s family said they joked with him that, surely, he still has more people yet to aggravate in his job looking out for the locals.
His daughter, Connie Koehler, said that recently, he said he couldn’t think of anyone else he needed to provoke.
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