SCHROEDER, Hans Jacob

SCHROEDER, SCHIPULL, JAGELS

Posted By: Pat Ludeke (email)
Date: 8/21/2013 at 00:18:30

HANS JACOB SCHROEDER

Hans Jacob Schroeder died at his Clear Lake home on Monday, Jan. 10, 2011.

A funeral service will be held Friday, Jan. 14, 11 a.m., at Bethlehem Lutheran Church, 419 N. Ave, Mason City, Iowa with the Rev. Mark Lavrenz officiating. Visitation will be Thursday, Jan. 13, at Ward-Van Slyke Colonial Chapel, 101 N. 4th St., Clear Lake, from 5 – 7 p.m. Interment will be at Memorial Park Cemetery, Mason City.

Memorials may be given to the Hans Jacob Schroeder Memorial Fund. Hans was born in northern Germany on April 13, 1924. At the age of four, Hans’ parents took him to start a new life in Iowa.

First with his parents and later on his own, Hans farmed near Clear Lake until 1998. He served in the U.S. Army from 1946 to 1948. The Army gave him a chance to improve his skiing during his time in Colorado. During his service time he met Harold Schipull, who years later would introduce him to his sister, Nora. Hans and Nora were married Dec. 29, 1957. Hans loved going to sales. His daughters, Marie and Helen, spent a lot of time at sale barns. At his own farm sale in 1998, nearly 50 mowers went on the auction block along with his last Oliver tractor.

Although he had many kinds, Oliver was his favorite. He had an 1800 Oliver put on his grave marker many years ago. Hans loved to play cards, swim, fish, and travel throughout the U.S.A. He made several trips back to his homeland, including a 1980 visit to his son, daughter-in-law, and grandson, Hans Christian, while they were stationed with the Air Force in Germany. Most recently he participated in a World War II Winnebago Honor Flight to Washington D.C. Back on the farm, life was never dull, with the occasional tractor, ditch or building fire-none devastating. His ability to strike up a conversation is legendary, a product of hours at farm sales, McDs, the V.F.W., the Senior Citizen Center, selling his treasures, sitting around the card table, and at the church where he and Nora brought their family up in the Lord, Bethlehem Lutheran.

Those left to cherish the memory of this gentle man include his wife of 53 years, Nora, of Clear Lake; four children, Angie of Kent City, Mich., Charlie of Mason City, Helen of Ames, and Marie of Clive, Iowa, and their families, including six grandchildren: Ben, Patty, Aaron, Adam, Nicole, and Molly, as well as three great-grandchildren: Christian, Rowen, and Weston Hans. Also left to cherish his memory are brothers-in-law, Harold Schipull and Otto Jagels.

Waiting to receive him are his parents, Christian and Margarete; a son, Richard, who left us in June 1959; and a grandson, Hans Christian, who passed away in 2010. This grandson and Hans did one thing in common - flying an airplane at Mason City Airport, and now together they will soar on wings like eagles (Isaiah 40: 31).