Barbara Schrader

Barbara Schrader passed away peacefully on February 19, 2024 at age 96 at the Hildebrandt Hospice Care Center in Rochester. She was predeceased by her parents Nicola and Adeline Messeri and sister and brother-in-law Ann and Erwin Delano. She is survived by her loving husband of 59 years Robert and daughter Patricia Schrader.
Barbara was born in Rochester and grew up on Smith and Kensington Streets. She was raised, along with her sister Ann, by her parents who came over from Italy in the 1920s and then met and married in Rochester. It was a difficult childhood, growing up during the Great Depression, and she and her sister first learned to speak English by listening to their teacher and kindergarten classmates at School Number 5.
After receiving her high school diploma, Barbara took secretarial courses at the Rochester Business Institute. Her longest secretarial position was working for the American Laundry Machine Company in their corporate office for over a decade. While there, she met her good friend Anita who would be maid of honor at her wedding.
Growing up, her family attended St. Peter and Paul's Church, the church where she would marry her husband Robert in January of 1965. She met her husband Robert in 1964 at a dance. Even though they had drastically different upbringings and educational backgrounds and heights (he being 6 foot 1 and she being five foot 1), they were completely compatible and the perfect companions for each other.
Barbara was not a big traveler at all, but did take a trip with Robert to Europe, including Italy, so she could see the land of her relatives. One other memorable trip was a train trip, before she was married, to the western parts of the US and Canada with her loyal friend Grace. Grace would later become the godmother to her daughter Patricia.
Barbara was always an early riser. She was religious and started each day by reading from her prayer books. She was also a long-time member of Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Brighton. Barbara enjoyed cooking, baking, and reading (always biographies and never fiction). She most enjoyed all the years of holiday and birthday gatherings of her close, small family here in Rochester.
In her later years, she enjoyed taking walks outside in the fresh air, watching cooking programs, watching lots of tennis and golf on TV (even though she never played herself), and watching her favorite old movies on DVD over and over again.
Barbara was very lucky that she had good health until age 94 and a half when she had a series of strokes. She spent the last year or so of her life living at St. Ann's Home (where decades earlier she used to volunteer, visiting Our Lady of Lourdes parishioners who were living there).
Thank you to the skilled and caring nurses and CNAs of St. Ann's Home, 4th floor for the excellent care given to Barbara.
Friends are invited to attend her committal service in the chapel at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery on Tuesday, February 27th at 1:30pm. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Open Door Mission, 156 N. Plymouth Ave., Rochester, NY 14608 or Our Lady of Lourdes Church, 150 Varinna Drive, Rochester, NY 14618.