Roger Shafer has been playing the guitar for more than 60 years.

“I’m not naturally talented,” he confessed. “I’ve had to work at what I’ve done.”

Plucking away at those strings though started taking on a whole new meaning in 2018. Shafer’s wife of more than four decades, Linda, began experiencing memory loss and was diagnosed with Lewy-body dementia.

“It’s very hard to determine because it comes and goes. It’s not consistent, it’s not constant,” Shafer said of the disease. “There are always subtle changes and periods of time where you think it’s just adult memory loss.”

So these days, Shafer’s strumming on the guitar happens at the Schenectady Center in Schenectady, a 30-minute drive from their home in Schoharie County.

“Sometimes I don’t get a response from her,” he said. “She’s had to put up with me practicing many songs over the years and she knows a lot of the words yet.”

Regardless of the response he gets, it’s a commute and commitment he makes almost daily.

“She misses me, I miss her,” he said. “We miss each other.”

Which was evident on this Valentine’s Day as the lovebirds celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary.

“I’ll play as long as I can, as long as she’s here, as long as I’m able to come here,” he said. “I’ll play.”