On Sunday, October 9,2022, under a full Hunter’s moon ,Hans-Dieter Schroeder lost his battle to recover from a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm, in spite of the efforts of his amazing team in the Spectrum Lakeland CCU, Cath Lab, and ER.
He was born in Schwerin, Germany on January 16,1941 to Friedrich and Emilie Schroeder. He spent the early part of his childhood during WWII and after the war in Soviet Occupied East Germany. His family escaped to West Germany in 1949,where Hans was hospitalized for a year due to starvation endured under Russian occupation, along with other horrific conditions in East Germany. In 1952 the family emigrated to the US ,and settled in Michigan to begin their new life in “paradise”!
Hans grew up learning to hunt, fish, and with a deep appreciation for the great outdoors.
He graduated in 1960 from Benton Harbor High School, where he excelled in track and basketball, right up until it interfered with opening day of hunting season! He played soccer with the St Joe Kicker’s Club and always enjoyed the camaraderie of his teammates.
He worked on the Deetjen farm in Fairplain as a teenager, before being hired in the model shop at Whirlpool Research and Development, where the Compass Fountain now sits. After 7 years there, welding on some exciting projects, such as the Space Kitchen, fabricating items to be used on the Apollo Space Flight, Hans left Whirlpool to work for the Millwright’s Local 1102.Construction of the DC Cook Nuclear plant was just beginning, and Hans was in on it, alongside his best friend, Vic Haak, from the time it was just a big hole in the ground! He also was a barge tender during the cofferdam installation there.
His work through the union involved traveling to many different states and working in lots of various power plants, breweries, cereal plants, automobile plants and many other fascinating industries, which piqued his thirst for knowledge, adventure, and ever-present wanderlust. He even got called on to work as an interpreter for several projects involving his Swiss and German counterparts, and disassembled, moved, and re-erected a tower used in the 7 part series, ”Oppenheimer” on PBS.
In his spare time he managed to build about 32 homes in the Stevensville and Shoreham area as an independent building contractor, including the beautiful one that became his and wife Susie’s last residence on Grandwood Circle. The plan was to build another and move on, but the neighbors there are so warm and friendly, they couldn’t bear to leave! He treasured his visits with all of them during his daily walks around the subdivision, watching the little ones grow up, and cheering them on at their games, performances, and graduations. He loved camping, star-gazing, mushroom hunting, coin collecting, polka dancing, gardening, big game hunting, fishing, soccer, traveling, and was a dumpster-diver extraordinaire!
Hans was the ultimate Opa and beloved by so many, namely his wife of 23 years, Susie, his grandchildren Scott Christie, in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, Ashley(Josh)Moore, of Eaton Rapids, MI, Drew and Abby Schroeder, of St Joseph, and Margaret, Rachel, Samuel, and Charlie Cox, also of St Joseph, and his adopted grandchildren ,Julien ,Adrien, Chiara and Camille Thrum of St Joseph. He is also survived by daughter Kimberly Christie, Ft Lauderdale, FL, and son, Jeffrey Schroeder of Hartford, MI, their mother, Margie Zoller, former daughter-in-law but daughter-at-heart, Melissa (Adis Long) Schroeder of St Joseph, MI, former son-in-law Dale(Annette) Christie of Watervliet, stepdaughters Blythe and Brianne Handy of Benton Harbor, MI, and Meghan(Bob) Cox of St Joseph, great granddaughters, Nikki Ann Moore of Eaton Rapids, and Riley Moore, brother-in-law Tim Wood of North Canton, Ohio, sister-in-law Nancy (Larry) Mohney of Kalamazoo, MI, and Laura(JC)Dorfler of St Joseph, best friend and hunting buddy, Carlos Stockwell, his cousins Kathy(David)Knight of Stevensville, Ron Guertel of St Joseph, and Bob Guertel of Tyler, TX, and a host of nieces and nephews. Also left to mourn his absence are special friends Marc and Claire Thrum, and Brian Samuel.
He was preceded in death by his parents, all of his siblings-brother Fritz, and sisters Ava Hoffman, Brigitte ,and Annegret Williams, father-in-law and mother-in-law, Raymond and Eva Sreboth, sister-in-law Marie Wood, and brother-in-law Ray Sreboth, Jr.
Hans was a very special gentleman-generous,talented,kind,funny,handsome,hard-working,caring and considerate, a true nature boy who lived an incredible life that touched so many others.
A special thanks goes out to his care team, Dr. John Stafford, Dr. Thomas Pow, Dr. Dilip Arora, Dr. Kourosh Baghelai, Dr. Stephen Dickson, Dr. Sapna Patel, Dr. Benjamin Gielda, Dr. David Kraklau, Dr. Craig Okonski, Dr. Andrew Wang, Dr. David Cook, and Dr1 Daniel Sohn ,all of whom helped him enjoy his 81+ years here on earth!
Hans has been cremated and, at his request, no services are scheduled, but a celebration of life will be held at a later date. Stay tuned!
Donations in Hans’s memory can be made to the St Joe Kicker’s Club, P.O. Box 336,St Joseph, MI 49085,or to the Sarrett Nature Center in Benton Harbor, MI by clicking on the following link:
Hans will be deeply missed,but forever in our hearts!
Posted On: Tuesday, October 25, 2022 11:51 AM
