Adele Schroeder, RSCJ

Birth: December 15, 1943
Profession: January 6, 1978
Death: January 3, 2024

Religious of the Sacred Heart Adele Schroeder died on January 3, 2024, in Atherton, California. She was eighty-one years old and a religious for fifty-eight years. Adele was born on December 15, 1943, in Los Angeles, California, to William Edmund Schroeder and Adele H. Davies Schroeder. She was the oldest of three children growing up with a sister and a brother. Her father died at a young age, and her mother had to assume the role of breadwinner. Her mother managed well under difficult circumstances and was very proud of the fact that she never had to accept government support. Adele and her sister attended grammar school at Immaculate Heart School for girls in Los Angeles and then Immaculate Heart of Mary High School. Adele was good at sports and constructed sets for musicals. She was known for her happy disposition and sense of humor.  

Adele graduated from the San Diego College for Women in 1966 with a BA in Mathematics and Chemistry. Following graduation, Adele entered the Society of the Sacred Heart on February 11, 1966, at El Cajon, California, and made her first vows there in 1968. Sister Schroeder’s first assignment after her vows was teaching at Forest Ridge Convent of the Sacred Heart for one year. In 1969, she went to the Convent of the Sacred Heart in San Francisco where she taught and served as acting treasurer for the school. She then moved to the Convent of the Sacred Heart in El Cajon and was treasurer for the school until 1972. She returned to Forest Ridge for one year, taught, and served as assistant treasurer of the school. From 1973 to 1977, Sister Schroeder taught at Schools of the Sacred Heart in San Francisco. She left for probation in 1977 to prepare for her final profession; the probation that year was held in the Philippines. On her way to the Philippines, she spent a month in Japan and Korea. Sister Schroeder made her final profession in Manila, Philippines, on January 6, 1978. Her group was given the name, “United for Mission,” and the motto: “One heart and one mind in the Heart of Jesus.”

Sister Schroeder returned to California in 1978 and joined the staff at the Oakwood Retirement Community for a few months as “the chief cook and bottle washer,” while also teaching at St. Joseph’s Elementary School. She then returned to the Schools of the Sacred Heart in San Francisco where she spent the next seven years teaching. In 1985, she joined the faculty at Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart for one year. Beginning in 1986, Sister Schroeder worked as a medical office assistant for the Province and taught at Newton Country Day School of the Sacred Heart. The following year, she became the director of the medical office of the Society of the Sacred Heart, United States Province. She held this position for thirteen years until 2005.

Early on while working in the medical office, Sister Schroeder received a thank you letter from Sister Rosemary Bearss, then Provincial, in which Adele’s service to the Province was acknowledged: “I can’t begin to tell you how important your service is to the everyday life of the members of the United States Province. I continually hear such good comments about your service in that role. Since that is an adjunct of the provincial administration, I want to take this opportunity to thank you formally for all that you do to make the needs of our membership so easily facilitated. People are so appreciative of the expeditious and simple manner with which you take care of things. I want you to know their appreciation.”

Sister Schroeder assisted the Provincial Team at that time in shaping the medical office for the future with recommendations from the Elder Care Task Force. When she left the medical office, Sister Kathleen Hughes, Provincial at that time, recounted the thousands of bills and reimbursements that had crossed Sister Schroeder’s desk as director of medical benefits, but the “most important gift is a gracious hello when people call, and the compassion with which they are treated in vulnerable circumstances.”

In addition to serving in the medical office, Sister Schroeder taught at St. Raymond Catholic Elementary School in Menlo Park, California, where her peers knew her as an outstanding educator and a “superb algebra teacher.” In 2010, Sister Schroeder joined the RSCJ community on the Soboba Indian Reservation in San Bernardino County and taught at the St. Jude Mission School. There were times when children arrived early for school because of the parents’ work schedule. Sister Schroeder spent her time with the children who enjoyed this “class before school,” learning about nature or special tricks for learning times tables. During this time, she also managed fifteen fund-raising bookkeeping accounts for the ministries of St. Jude School and the Church.

Sister Schroeder retired and moved to the Oakwood Retirement Community in 2022. After a brief time at Oakwood, she moved to the Northumberland Community in Redwood City with her dear friend Sister Marianna Torrano. In 2023, she moved back to Oakwood to stay. Most recently, Sister Schroeder experienced low blood pressure while at the Palo Alto Sub-Acute Rehabilitation Center. She was transferred to Stanford Hospital where she died suddenly on January 3. In the days preceding her death, Sister Schroeder was consoled by a visit from her dear friends Marianna Torrano and Ann McGowan. A funeral mass was celebrated for Sister Schroeder on February 29, 2024, in the Oakwood Chapel. Burial followed in the Oakwood cemetery.

Memorial contributions can be made to the Society of the Sacred Heart, United States-Canada, 4120 Forest Park Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63108.