Mary Jo died on February 5, 2022, in The Woodlands, TX, while riding her bicycle at age 85, an activity she dearly loved.
She was born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, and moved with her family to Lakeland, FL, in 1965. In 1981 they moved to Vero Beach, FL. In 2014, Mary Jo moved back to Lakeland and then in 2021 to The Woodlands, TX to live with her daughter Ruth and her husband.
Mary Jo graduated from Mercy Hospital School of Nursing in Hamilton, Ohio, with a Nursing Diploma. In her career she worked as a hospital, blood bank, and geriatric nurse. She retired as the Assistant Director of Nursing at Royal Palm Convalescent Center in Vero Beach, FL.
She loved sewing and sought out volunteer opportunities. Her children remember the many happy hours she spent volunteering in the community and at their schools in Lakeland. After retirement, she volunteered and taught at the Environmental Learning Center in Vero Beach, and enjoyed serving with the American Sewing Guild and the Craft Circle at The Woodlands Methodist Church. She donated many hand-sewn items over the years wherever she saw a need.
She was preceded in death by her husband of 52 years, Ray Schneider, and is survived by her five children, Rita, Ruth, Joe, Peggy, Carol; thirteen grandchildren, and nine great-grandchildren.
As the saying goes, there were no strangers to Mary Jo, only friends she hadn’t yet met. In addition to her family, she leaves behind a host of people that she loved, enjoyed and served with in every place she lived.
Mary Jo celebrated life while she lived it and wanted everyone else to do the same. A Celebration of Life memorial will be held at a later date. Memorial contributions may be made to the Salvation Army (
www.salvationarmyusa.org
) or the Environmental Learning Center in Vero Beach, FL, (
www.discoverelc.org
).
Arrangements are under the direction of Eickenhorst Funeral Home, Conroe, Texas.