Dripping Springs, TEXAS — Michael Robert Quay, who loved film and song, died on Sunday, Sept. 27, 2015. He was 28. 

Michael was born to Susan Elizabeth Quay and Michael Edwin Shaffer, of Schenectady, in 1986.

“In his earliest years, Mike was a polished New Yorker and was often found patrolling his little section of the Bellevue neighborhood sidewalks, proudly donning his full police uniform, complete with a heavy, bright badge donated by local SPD patrolmen,” his family wrote in a tribute.

Mike finished most of his elementary school years at the Brown School in Schenectady but also spent some of those early summers on his maternal grandparent’s cattle ranch in New Mexico.

“With this introduction to rural life in the American Southwest and properly equipped with a big box of Johnny Cash cassette tapes, Mike moved to Nevada, Texas in 1997 to live with his Uncle Jeff where he attended the Community Middle and High Schools, graduating in the top ten of his high school class in 2004,” his family wrote.

As a teenager, he enjoyed cross-country motorcycle racing with his high school friends and families and won a room full of trophies in the Texas Cross Country Racing Association club competitions. His childhood desire to be a policeman was still evident when he went off to study criminal justice at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas after high school.

A job change for his uncle brought the family to the Austin, Texas area in 2005 where they settled in Dripping Springs. Mr. Quay earned an associate of science degree in accounting at Austin Community College and regularly worshipped at Church of the Springs during his time as a commuting student. He later took additional accounting and personal finance classes working towards a bachelor of science degree at Texas Tech University in Lubbock.

“Mike enjoyed the deep passion often expressed in film and song,” his family wrote. “Watching a DVD with him could be a little annoying as he could easily recite every single line in the movie before it was voiced. Michael was also a great lover of music including genres that often predated his young age. He was equally happy with booming rap, attending concerts of aging ’70s-era rock bands or singing Frankie Valli songs in the shower every morning.”

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Both of his biological parents, Susan E. Quay and Michael E. Shaffer, both of Schenectady, died before him, as did his grandparents, Robert and Ruth E. Quay of Altamont.  He is survived by two uncles, Jeffrey R. Quay of Dripping Springs, Texas, and the family of John D. Quay of Greenville, South Carolina.

Funeral services provided by Harrell Funeral Home of Dripping Springs, Texas and Fredendall Funeral Home of Altamont with cremated remains interred at Knox Cemetery in Knox.

Online condolences may be made at www.fredendallfuneralhome.com.