03/24/2026
Ernest ‘Wayne’ Schaaf passed away on March 12, 2026. He was 85 years old. Born November 15, 1940 in Durango, Colorado to Ernie and Peryl Schaaf, Wayne lived a life shaped by his family, his home of southwestern Colorado, hard work, and an unshakeable love of horses.
Wayne’s earliest memories were forged in Durango with his family. His favorites centered around hunting and fishing with his father, preferably on horseback. As a boy, he spent cherished time at the A Bar A Ranch, where his Uncle, Herman Swartz — an accomplished cowboy — was the foreman. It was there that Wayne learned to drive a team on a horse-drawn feed wagon and absorbed everything Uncle Herman had to teach. Those days planted a seed that defined his entire life.
Wayne went on to attend both Colorado State University and Arizona State University, competing on both college rodeo teams in rough stock events. He eventually earned his way to the College Rodeo National Finals, a point of quiet pride throughout his life, and graduated with a degree in Agricultural Sciences.
After college, Wayne worked a string of jobs across Colorado — never sitting still for long — before settling in Lamar in southeastern Colorado, where he became a small business owner, running a filling station, a video rental store, and a restaurant. But the mountains and canyons of Southwest Colorado kept calling. In 1990, he answered, returning first to Bayfield and Ignacio before eventually making his home in Cortez, Colorado.
Back in southwestern Colorado, Wayne drove a CDOT snow plow, worked as a conductor on the Durango Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, dealt black jack at the Ute Mountain Casino and sold cars, amongst a variety of other jobs — but his working life found its truest expression when he finally got to do what he’d always dreamed of: ranching. He ran a small cow-calf operation alongside his wife, Jo McGinty Schaaf, until her passing. It was the best chapter of his working life.
Through every chapter and every town, the one constant in Wayne’s life was horses. He was, in the truest sense of the word, a cowboy. He carried his passion into his involvement with the Cattlemen’s Association and the Backcountry Horsemen’s Association, organizations he believed in deeply. Wayne’s favorite view of the world was from the back of a horse — and those who knew him well understood that was not a figure of speech.
Wayne also loved fly fishing and hunting. Those who had the privilege of elk or pheasant hunting or fly fishing with him carry those memories like treasures. His son wanted to share one such memory. During the late afternoon of a day elk hunting, the sun was dropping low over a mountain meadow filled with a beautiful stand of fawn colored grass. Wayne and his son had each found “soft rocks” to sit on as Wayne’s dad, Ernie, liked to say. The angled sunlight warmed both as they sat in the quiet and watched the meadow. With the high mountain light softening into the golden hour, Wayne looked over and said how happy he was — how special the evening was. The only thing that might have made it better, he added with a grin, was if he’d been sitting horseback.
Wayne is survived by his children, Kelly Hallenbeck (Chad) and Shad Schaaf (Cheryl); his grandchildren, Branden Klyczek (Emma), Avery Schaaf, and Etta Schaaf; and his sisters, Lavon Schaaf, Tammy Schreiner (Kipp), and Sherri Schaaf (Steve). He was preceded in death by his wife, Jo McGinty Schaaf and his parents, Ernie and Peryl Schaaf.
Celebration of Life
Friends and family are invited to celebrate Wayne’s life on Saturday, April 25, 2026 at 4:00 PM at the Lewis Arriola Community Center, 21176 Road S, Cortez, Colorado.
In lieu of flowers and to honor a man who loved the land, the animals, and the way of life it takes to tend them both; the family welcomes donations to the Wayne Schaaf Scholarship through the Southwestern Colorado Livestock Association PO Box 393, Cortez, CO 81321. Or contact Lynelle Brumley (970)565-1972.
