Robert Joseph Schneiders

Sioux City. Robert Joseph Schneiders, 92, of Sioux City died Thursday, July 16, at a Sioux City nursing home. Funeral Services will be held 10:30 a.m. Tuesday July 21, 2015 at St. Boniface Catholic Church in Sioux City with the Rev. Michael Erpelding officiating. Burial will be in Calvary Cemetery with military rites by the United States Navy. Family visitation will be held from 4 till 6 p.m. on Monday July 20, 2015. Robert was born on August 8, 1922, to Joseph Matthias Schneiders and Adora Cecilia Kelley. He attended St. Boniface Catholic Grade School and Central High School, graduating in the spring of 1941. After the outbreak of World War II in December 1941, he joined the U.S. Navy. He trained at the Great Lakes Naval Station before assignment to Pacific Fleet Headquarters, Honolulu, Hawaii. Between 1942 and 1946 he served in Admiral Chester Nimitz's fleet communications section, transcribing incoming coded messages from the Pacific Theater of operations. Robert was proud of his service in the military and his small contribution to the defeat of Imperial Japan, but because of his inherent humility, he remained reticent about his time in the Navy, believing you just did the job, kept quiet, and moved on with your life. On August 23, 1947, Robert married Mary Jean Lang of Sioux City. Mary Jean was the love of his life. He absolutely adored her. During their courtship, he made a point each morning to wait beside the rail tracks, and then wave, while Jean's trolley car passed by on her way to work. Robert worked at Armour and Company as a mechanical engineer from 1947 until its closure in 1963, conducting time studies to improve the productive efficiency of the plant's work force. In the late 1960s, he, and two partners, opened a hydraulic cylinder manufacturing facility in Correctionville, Iowa. However, the economic downturn of the early 1970s forced the shuttering of their small factory. After Beall and Buckley's closure, Robert worked as a hog buyer for Iowa Beef Processors. During the recession of 1981-82, he found himself again unemployed. At that time he decided to buy, remodel, and rent a series of houses. Robert was an avid reader of non-fiction, particularly World War II history and true crime. Somehow, and no one really knows how, he could focus on a book while his house teemed with screaming, squirming kids. He loved a good movie, having developed a fascination with film during his childhood in the 1920s and 1930s, when he regularly attended the Saturday matinees in town. He enjoyed pheasant hunting. Each year on opening day of the hunting season, he would invite his father, sons, and friends to the house for a big breakfast of eggs, bacon, pancakes, and coffee (which he prepared) before everyone headed out to the fields in pursuit of the birds. Robert valued simplicity, honesty, humility, and commitment above all else. He was a man of few material possessions, his word was his honor, and when he committed to something he followed through with that commitment until the end. In the last years of his life, he endured a great deal of suffering, but he believed there was meaning in that suffering, even if he didn't fully understand it. What helped him through tough times were the small things - a delicious meal, a funny joke, a good movie, the company of others, and his deep faith in God. He was a lifelong member of St. Boniface Parish. Robert is survived by his wife of nearly 68 years, Mary Jean, and thirteen children, Nancy of Sioux City, Mary Gillis (John) of Akron, Iowa, Paul of Dixon, Nebraska, Brian of Cherokee, Iowa, Carol Newell (Frank), of Lincoln, Nebraska, Jon (Rosina) of Sioux City, Matt (Lori) of Arlington, Washington, Teresa Honer (Mark) of Shawnee Mission, Kansas, Robert (Sharron) of Melbourne, Australia, Ann Carr (Greg) of Vinita, Oklahoma, Jean of Sioux City, Tom (Courtney) of Des Moines, Iowa, and Sara (Brad Thiel) of Cedar Rapids, Iowa a brother Gerald Schneiders (Mary Lou) of Salix, IA. He had many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents; a brother, Joseph, his sons Leo and Mark and grandson Luke Schneiders. He will be missed.