Saturday, October 7th, 2017
Mary Schroer
Mary Schroer died October 3, 2017 at Arbor Hospice.
A long time resident of the Ann Arbor, Michigan, area, she has lived in Chelsea, Michigan, in recent years. The cause of death was cancer.
Mary was born February 11, 1947, the youngest of 12 children. Her birthplace was St. Marys, Ohio. Her parents were Louise (Koch) White and John Crane White. Mary was married in 1967 to Michael Schroer, who survives.
In addition she is survived by three children, Amy L. Hyde, Jennifer A. Schroer and Rebecca A. Cohen. Mary is also survived by sons-in-law Jay Hyde and Michael Cohen. Mary and Michael were the proud grandparents of eight grandchildren; Jacob Bolt, Jack Bolt, Michael Bolt and Ellie Bolt all of Chelsea; Ben Cohen, Hannah Cohen and Matt Cohen of Satellite Beach, Florida and Piper Schroer of Chelsea. Mary is survived by five of her brothers and sisters, Doris Reichert, Jim White, Jerry White, William White and Carolyn (Irons) Rhodes plus numerous nieces and nephews.
Mary was a well informed, passionate and energetic legislator in the Michigan House of Representatives spanning the years 1992 through 1998. Her Washtenaw County District was the 52nd house district composed of the northern portion of Ann Arbor and the six townships comprising northwest Washtenaw County.
Her introduction to community activism occurred when Mary moved to Ann Arbor in 1972 and joined the group Parents for Alternative Learning, advocates for open classroom teaching in the Ann Arbor Schools. It was during this time that Ed Pierce, Ann Arbor's mayor, recruited Mary to work on his successful campaign for the state senate. It was there that Mary displayed her firm grasp of campaign politics. She went on to play a prime role in the Ed Pierce campaign for governor.
Mary then became active in Lana Pollack's successful campaign for the state senate. Upon forming her senate staff, Senator Pollack tapped Mary as a legislative assistant. Mary was a trusted and effective legislative assistant for the 10 years preceding her swearing in to the House of Representatives.
Mary attended Washtenaw Community College and Eastern Michigan University. She was awarded a degree in political science, summa cum laude, by Eastern Michigan University.
Among her many committees and boards, Mary served as chair of the Washtenaw Community College Board of Trustees, as a Board member of the Ann Arbor Community Center and as a board member of the Democratic Michigan Women's Campaign Fund.
Mary was a creative gardener and an avid reader. She took much joy in time spent at Lake Michigan and in particular, Beaver Island. These good times were made all the more memorable because they were invariably shared with her daughters and their families.
Mary's quick wit, great affection for friends and colleagues, and love of family will be sorely missed.
A memorial service will be held Thursday October 12th at 2:00 pm at the First Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Ann Arbor, 4001 Ann Arbor-Saline Road, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that gifts of remembrance be made to Arbor Hospice (arborhospice.org) or Faith in Action (faithinaction1.org).
