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Phyllis Lee Schroeder
Born: 7/6/1929
Died: 5/22/2024
Age: 94
Community: Flint, MI
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Phyllis Lee (Dickie) Schroeder, age 94, passed away peacefully on May 22, 2024, at her home in Vicinia Gardens in Fenton, Michigan after a series of strokes. Phyllis was born on July 6, 1929, in Highland Park, Michigan. Preceded in death by her husband of over 70 years, Paul E. Schroeder, M.D., her parents, Donald Dickie and Mabel (Morgan) Dickie, and sister Carolee Briley. She is survived by her three children, Bruce Schroeder (wife Jane Blackwell) of Kayenta, Utah, Susan Schroeder (husband Gary McNaughton) of Flagstaff, Arizona, and Jonathan Schroeder (partner Janet Borgerson) of Rochester, New York, step granddaughter Katherine Blackwell of Sacramento, California, and her cherished nieces and nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews, and great-grandnieces and great-grandnephews.
Phyllis grew up in Detroit, where her father worked for the Packard Motor Car Company and her mother managed the lamp department at Hudson’s flagship department store. She graduated from Cass Tech in 1947, and quickly put her scientific skills to work as a chemist and quality control specialist for the Sealtest Dairy Company in Detroit. A key perk of the job was testing out new flavors of ice cream – a favorite was lemon cake.
Phyllis received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor in 1951. Just before she began her college career in Ann Arbor, she met Paul, a minister’s son, at a Presbyterian church camp. They spotted each other on campus soon after, and Paul asked her to a dance at the Michigan Union. They continued to date all through college. Upon meeting Phyllis, Paul’s mother quickly approved of her. She was especially complimentary about her naturally curly hair. Paul and Phyllis married a week after her graduation. It was a powerful and loving union that lasted for over seventy years.
Phyllis taught in the Saline public schools until the birth of her first son, Bruce. In 1953, when Paul, as first lieutenant, was stationed as an army doctor at Fort Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, she and Bruce set out on a cross-country adventure to join him. There, in the shadow of the Chugach Mountains, her appreciation for the natural world deepened and became a lifelong passion. Aside from serving as program chairman for the Officer’s Wives Club, she learned to hunt caribou, fish for Chinook salmon, and camp out in the Alaskan wilderness. (Despite Paul’s enthusiasm for fishing, she never really did develop a taste for fish.)
After moving to Flint in 1955, Phyllis taught for several years in the public schools. Later, she developed a science program and tutored for Eisenhower School. At the Valley School, she introduced students to world cuisine, creatively sourcing chicken feet as an authentic ingredient for an African dish. For many years, Phyllis volunteered as a docent for the Flint Institute of Arts.
Phyllis was active in the First Presbyterian Church of Flint. She sang alto in the Chancel choir for decades and was a choir mother for her children’s choirs. When daughter Susan traveled on the legendary 1971 choir trip to Europe, Phyllis joined in as a chaperone. She served in multiple leadership roles in the church, including as a Deacon and member of the Session. She also trained as a lay counselor with the Gerholz Counseling Center. In addition, Phyllis was one of the first women to serve as an Elder.
Phyllis joined the Junior League of Flint in 1962 and went on to play leadership roles in numerous community organizations. She was a member of the Board of Directors of the Genesee Audubon Society, the Michigan Audubon Society, the Junior League of Flint, and For-Mor Nature Preserve and Arboretum, where she served for almost 40 years, including as Board Chair.
She was deeply engaged in the cultural life of the community. Her smile brightened up the many events she attended. She was a member of Flint Dancing Club, the Twentieth Century Club, the Genesee County Medical Society Alliance, the Rubens Society of the Flint Institute of Arts, and the Shakespeare Club of Flint.
One of the organizations closest to her heart was Seven Ponds Nature Center in Lapeer County. After noticing a newspaper ad for “assistant naturalists” calling for people who liked kids and nature, she completed the training, and ended up volunteering for over forty years. She led school groups around the nature preserve, providing many young people a first look at wildlife beyond city rats and squirrels. She shepherded fundraising campaigns, director searches, and building projects until she stepped down from the Board of Trustees in 2010.
Phyllis was an incredibly curious lifelong learner. She did postgraduate study at Mott Community College, Michigan State University, University of Michigan, Flint, and the Matthaei Botanical Gardens at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. One of her favorite educational experiences was enrolling in “Bug Camp” at the University of Michigan Biological Station in Pellston, Michigan. Along with several close friends, Phyllis dove into the hands-on field courses in entomology (studying the eponymous “bugs” of Bug Camp), botany, zoology, and ornithology.
An accomplished birder, Phyllis impressed everyone with her ability to identify birds just from hearing their song. When she spotted a hawk, warbler, or a rare bird, her friends and family got used to her attention shifting rapidly, interrupting any conversation. “Look!”, she’d exclaim, and follow with an expert identification of the bird. Phyllis especially loved raptors and became a licensed wildlife rehabilitator. For years, she kept injured birds of prey in her basement, including a large Great Horned owl, before releasing them back into the wild. Along with birds, Phyllis loved animals, and enjoyed the company of cats (the latest her cherished tabby, Bailey), dogs (especially Golden Retrievers), rabbits, gerbils, tropical fish, ducks, and several snakes over the years.
Phyllis spent time each year on her beloved Duck Lake, near Interlochen, Michigan, which provided abundant opportunities for loon watching, eagle spotting, and boating. She was game for most any outdoor activity, including snow skiing, cross country skiing, snowmobiling, canoeing, sailing, tennis, swimming, and water skiing. She became a skilled skipper, attaining qualification for competition ski boat driving to pull Paul water skiing. She sailed through an intensive Chapman power boating course so she could drive their high-performance cigarette boat.
She loved to celebrate with people and cultivated lifelong friends. Phyllis and Paul threw fabulous Christmas, New Year’s Eve, birthday, and anniversary parties. Halloween inspired elaborate costumes and pumpkin lanterns lighting up the Lake Shannon house with festive hauntings and laughter. She developed strong connections with many young people and could be counted on to attend their sporting events, theatre performances, recitals, graduations, and weddings over the years.
Phyllis enjoyed adventure travel to the Amazon, Antarctica, Churchill, Manitoba, Kenya, Tanzania, Panama, Costa Rica, Mexico, and the Galapagos Islands to learn about the wildlife and ecosystems around the world. She traveled often to the Western US for skiing and to visit family, including a trip to attend the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. When son Jonathan lived in Europe, she visited several times, exploring arts and culture.
Recently, Phyllis launched philanthropic endeavors to support the Flint Institute of Music (including the Flint Symphony Orchestra, where she had season tickets since the 1970s), Flint Institute of Arts, and Seven Ponds Nature Center. A project close to her heart was the Grand Traverse Land Conservancy’s Golden Days Loon Nature Sanctuary.
The family expresses their deep appreciation for Phyllis’s team of caregivers, the staff at Vicinia Gardens, and Medical Team Hospice. She lived an adventurous, wonderful life full of vigor and incessant enthusiasm.
A memorial service is planned at First Presbyterian Church in Flint on Monday June 3, 2024, at 11:00 am. Visitation will be before the service.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Seven Ponds Nature Center, the Flint Institute of Arts, or the Flint Institute of Music.
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6/3/2024 |
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10:00 AM |
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| Funeral Service |
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6/3/2024 |
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11:00 AM |
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First Presbyterian Church
746 S. Saginaw
Flint, MI 48502Get a Map to this location...
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