H. Elaine Schroeder Jackson

Elaine’s life will be celebrated Friday, January 4, 2019, at 11:00 a.m. from McClain Hays Chapel in Philadelphia with Rev. Jerry Germany officiating.  Visitation will begin at 9:00 a.m. until time of service.  Interment will be in Edinburg Community Cemetery.  H. Elaine Schroeder Jackson, 92, passed away peacefully on December 28, 2018. Born in Erie, Pennsylvania on July 31, 1926, she was the daughter of the late Rev. William T. Schroeder and Hazel Bryson Schroeder. Being reared in the home of a pastor, she spent her growing up years in Muskegon, Michigan, graduating from Muskegon High School in 1944.  She received her B.S. degree in public school music from Anderson College (IN) in 1949, an MA in elementary education from Western Michigan University (1958), and the ED SP from Mississippi State University many years later. Upon leaving college, she taught public school music in Ravenna, MI for three years and kindergarten classes in Grand Rapids, MI for nine years. In 1962 she moved to South Dakota and assisted in the creation of a program whereby the young Sioux children on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation could learn English. She served as an instructor and at the conclusion of her five year contract, was able to note that every Indian school on the Reservation had at least one kindergarten. In Vermillion, South Dakota, during the summer of 1967, she taught a methods class for kindergarten educators, conducted a kindergarten class, and oversaw four student teachers who assisted with the children.  A move to Ship Rock, New Mexico later in 1967 enabled her to serve as Guidance Supervisor over on-site female housing and afterschool programs and activities on the Navaho Reservation. In 1970 Elaine moved to Philadelphia, Mississippi, to work for the Bureau of Indian Affairs.  She taught kindergarten, held various acting principal positions, and at the time of her retirement in 1987, she was the Middle School Principal on the Choctaw Reservation. She has been a lifelong member of the Church of God (Anderson, IN), and has used her musical, teaching and leadership abilities in service to the Lord Jesus Christ wherever she has lived. Since 1990 she has been an active member of the Pine Grove Church of God in Edinburg. Elaine has been a co-teacher of an Adult Sunday School class, administered the prayer chain ministry, and played the organ. She was preceded in death by her husband, Gordon E. Jackson; parents, Rev. and Mrs. William T. Schroeder; and sister, Marie Schroeder. She is survived by a sister, Nancy Ann McDowell (Jim) of Plymouth, MI; nieces, Kerri Lee Franklin of Waterford, MI, and Susan Kay McDowell of Indianapolis, IN; a great-niece and great-nephews; and a special nephew, Jack Jackson of Edinburg.