December 27, 1913 - April 2, 2003
Ann Schroeder, known as our Bible Mother during Gallaudet days in the early 1970’s, passed away peacefully on April 2, 2003 in Loma Linda, California. She celebrated her 89th birthday in December 2003 and her health rapidly began to deteriorate rapidly in January 2003.
Funeral was arranged in Youngsville, Pennsylvania. The funeral service was held on Saturday, April 12, 2003 at 2 P.M. at the Hessel Valley Lutheran Church in Chandler’s Valley, Pennsylvania. A small memorial service in Redlands, California was held on April 9, 2003 at the Redlands SDA Church Fellowship Hall.
Ann Schroeder was born on December 27, 1913, in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. She had lived in Redlands since 1985. Her parents immigrated from Sweden just before she was born. Her father worked in the steel mills in Pittsburgh, and her mother helped develop the Swedish Room at the Cathedral of Learning, Carnegie Institute.
She worked as a Bible teacher for the Potomac Conference of SDA. After becoming aware of discrimination and isolation among some deaf people, she attended Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C. to learn sign language skills in order to interpret and communicate with the Deaf. She accomplished a great deal in helping the Deaf. One was facilitating the discharge of more than 20 people who had been erroneously placed in mental hospitals because of their inability to communicate. She also was instrumental in making some changes in the Pennsylvania school system to better identify hearing-impaired children and to teach them communication skills.
From the late 1960s to her retirement in 1973, she was instrumental in developing a deaf ministry at the Silver Spring SDA church that still has a group of deaf members. She led a choir of deaf students from Gallaudet University when there were about 20 SDA students. She also gave Bible studies to deaf students who later became SDA members. Ann was a strong supporter for the Deaf in our church. She was responsible for sensitizing the church to understand the needs of the Deaf.
She loved ice-skating and won trophies and ribbons in skating competitions.
After moving to Redlands, she lived with her daughter and son-in-law, Nancy Bailey and Loma Linda University heart surgeon, Leonard Bailey.