Marilynn Christine Schroeder

Pastor Marilynn Christine Schroeder met Jesus face to face on July 22, 2021 at 4:23 pm surrounded by the deep love of family and friends. She expressed gratitude for her life with which she says she absolutely has no regrets. She felt blessed by her marriage to Paul for 55 years and the overwhelming joy of raising 3 sons to become successful men and excellent fathers to her 5 grandchildren. She received her B.S. Ed from Northern Illinois University in 1966. After graduation she began teaching children with handicapping conditions in Skokie, Illinois. During her undergraduate schooling she was a member of the Alpha Omicron Pi sorority, later serving as an adult adviser to a sorority chapter at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. Moving to Columbus, Ohio for Paul’s graduate schooling in 1972 she became a full-time mother to grow a family. During the children’s baby years she was actively involved with the LaLeche League, an international organization advocating breastfeeding and provided counseling to many nursing mothers. As the children grew she formed a group in the local elementary school to encourage healthy eating with natural foods in the school lunch programs. In the late 70’s Marilynn entered theological school graduating in 1985 with a Master of Divinity degree from the Methodist Theological School in Ohio. She was ordained a Deacon and Elder in the West Ohio Conference of the United Methodist Church. Marilynn served seven churches in the West Ohio Conference: Christian Education Assistant at Church of the Messiah, Westerville; Pastor of Pottersburg, New Dover, and Unionville Center in the Marysville area; and Senior Pastor of Point Place (now Riverpoint Ministries) and Aldersgate in Toledo. During her years serving the Marysville churches she was honored to receive the Harry Deneman Evangelism Award for outstanding evangelism efforts. After retirement from full-time ministry she served at Epworth United Methodist church as the part-time Minister of New Member ministries. Marilynn had a passion for involving children in worship services through participation in the children’s sermon time. She is known for her children’s “sermons” which centered on reading a children’s book by showing the kids the pictures in the book right-side up while she read the words upside-down. Living in Toledo Marilynn became very active in the Northwest Ohio Emmaus Community serving as the Spiritual Director for the Community and a number of weekend walks. She was also active in the Women’s Kairos Prison Ministry serving on several weekend teams at the Marysville Women’s Correctional Institution. Marilynn was an avid scrap booker putting together over 59 books of various family events, vacations, and around the world travels. She enjoyed spending summers at the family cottage at the Lakeside Chautauqua in Lakeside, Ohio where she served on the Board of Directors of the Lakeside Association. Marilynn was born on May 13, 1944, her mother’s birthday, to Albert and Eleanor Pemberton, Jr. in Chicago, Illinois. The firstborn she is survived by her brother James David Pemberton (Renate). Two younger siblings preceded her in death, Thomas Edward Pemberton and Kristine Marie Mattenson (who also shared Marilynn’s birth date). Survivors include her beloved husband, Paul Erwin, 3 sons, Christopher Paul, Jonathan Edward (Melinda), and Jeremy Leroy (Josie), as well as 5 Schroeder grandchildren: Madeleine Rose, Nicholas Iain, Aya Sophia, Eleanor Catherine, and Molly Christine, and a special niece Jennifer (Tom) Charrette. Visitation will be July 29 and 30 at Walker Funeral Home, Sylvania from 2:00 – 8:00 pm. A memorial service will be July 31, at 1:00 pm at Epworth United Methodist Church. A private burial service of the ashes will occur at the Lakeside Chautauqua Memorial Gardens, Lakeside, Ohio. In lieu of flowers the family requests memorial contributions be sent to the Pulmonary Hypertension Association (phassociation.org); Scleroderma Foundation (scleroderma.org); and The Assistance Fund (tafcares.org).