Roger James Schneider

Roger James Schneider passed away peacefully on October 8, 2025, at 89 years old. He was born October 11, 1935, on a dairy farm in Wahpeton, North Dakota. Roger spoke fondly of his maternal grandmother with whom he lived for a short time when he was around five years old. With her, he learned canning, knitting, crocheting, and rendering lard into soap. He likely acquired his love of storytelling from her, as she would fill him with tales of the “old country,” Czechoslovakia, and how her husband built their family a house in the 1800s with running water and an indoor toilet, which he saw as a necessity with five daughters.

Roger liked to recount the story of when he pleaded with his grandmother to task him with getting a live goose from the local grocer for their Christmas meal. She warned him it would not be easy, telling him, “Make sure you tuck the wings because it will try to get away.” Sure enough, on the walk home, it broke free from his grasp. Roger wore down himself and the goose, chasing it in circles while trudging through two feet of snow. With tears frozen on his cheeks, he proudly presented the goose to his grandmother.

Roger never let adversity stop him. He was bored by school and failed 9th and 10th grades. Proud of being self-taught, he often shared stories of survival. He began life on his own at 13 years old when he ran away. Roger was deeply moved by people who had showed him kindness during his difficult years.

I met this guy who told me how to find the right train car. Not an open gondola car, where the weight could shift. He told me how to read the cars, where they were going, which were empty. We rode together out to Washington and spent a month together. He rode the rails all the time—in box cars. He had money but was retired and now did it to remind himself of how it had been. During the depression, he’d ridden the rails to find a job. Great guy. Told me all sorts of things, like how to approach a hobo jungle. Always bring something to donate to the cause. And, if you’re really hungry, look in the phone book for the biggest bakery. At 3:00 am they’d be loading for delivery, and you’d be well fed. For ice cream, butter, cottage cheese, you’d do the same at a dairy.

He told me the safest place to sleep at night was a barn. The hay was warm, and you could use it as a cover. Apartment laundry rooms were also good for sleeping. You could get a new wardrobe there, too. We’d leave our dirty clothes behind. When I was down in Texas, I joined a combine harvest crew. They realized I knew more than most people they hired.

In this manner, he not only saw Texas, but also Oklahoma, Nebraska, and North and South Dakota. By the time he returned home at 14 years old, he had earned a surprising amount of money.

Another stranger who showed kindness was a police officer. After approaching Roger and determining he was homeless, the officer said, “I’m going to have to take you in for vagrancy.” It wasn’t the first time; it was a good way to get a meal and warm place to sleep. They made their way to the station indirectly, first stopping at the police officer’s house for a home-cooked meal.

For some time teenaged Roger lived with his maternal Uncle Ray Korinek, with whom he had grown close. Uncle Ray had the kind and gentle demeanor of his grandmother. Roger recounted, “If I got in trouble, Uncle Ray accepted me with open arms. We’d go to this little town of Dorn to drink beer and play pool. We’d drink only one.”

Roger’s adventures led to joining the Marines, where he served in Korea, Japan, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and two year-long tours in Vietnam for—as he responded when asked—21 years, 6 months, 37 hours. He went in as a private and retired captain.

During his military career, he landed in Baghdad on his twenty-first birthday, where he met his wife, Aida. Their separate strands of life began weaving together when they both started their respective jobs on the same day at the American Embassy in Baghdad. He worked security, and she translated all the local newspapers into English for the Embassy officers to read. At the first dance, he told her, “I’m going to marry you.” She looked into his bright blue eyes and thought, yes, you are. They married a year later. Accompanied by his bride, he came to states in 1958.

Also showing him loving kindness along his path was Mamasan. In Japan, she and her husband owned several businesses Roger frequented. She welcomed him into her home for meals. She told the women who worked for her that Babysan was married with a family and to stay away.

Years later, when Roger was returning from Korea, he walked into Mamasan’s bar to surprise her. But she surprised him, instantly recognizing his voice and running out from a back room exclaiming, “Babysan, Babysan!” She welcomed him and all his friends and gave him the keys to close the place down. But then she lingered, not wanting to leave her adopted American “son.”

After his first tour in Vietnam, Roger served as a Casualty Assistance Calls Officer for four years. In this role, he notified the next of kin throughout the states and helped them through the grieving and paperwork process. His innate compassion relieved the pressure. He also relied on jokes to lighten loads and forge bonds.

Roger proudly displayed a wood plaque VMA award in his later years, explaining that the “VA” means it’s a fighter plane. The “A” means attack. The “M” is for Marines. He helped stem the tide of losses by figuring out where, in particular, men were being lost. He repeated a favorite phrase, “You take care of your men.”

After retiring from the military in 1974, Roger was offered a job to investigate airplane crashes. Aida asked him to decline because now that he was out of the Marine Corps she wanted him home.

Thus, Roger worked as Technicolor materials manager in Orange County, CA. A year later, he left that job and went back to school to earn a Business Degree from Pepperdine University, where he discovered his affinity for finance. Later, he took classes including construction law from Orange County community college. The day the family left their house of seven years in Tustin, CA the college offered him a job to teach, which he declined. He came to Redlands in 1976 and applied for a job at the Contractor’s State License Board, where he worked for fifteen years, starting as Deputy 1 and retiring as a Deputy 4.

Roger stepped in as a father figure to those who had been orphaned by their own, whether actually or spiritually. He himself, lacking a loving father, knew the void that left in the heart and sought to fill it. He also knew what it felt like to be homeless, to be on the outside, looking in, just a spectator to a warm, loving inner family. So he reached out to the lonely, the lost, the lacking, so that they would feel the warmth of his friendship.

Roger was always a man of personal prayer. He was also involved at his local church, where he and Aida led a youth group and Marriage Encounter. Additionally, Roger served in other roles, his favorite being as a Stephen Ministry volunteer, helping people through the crisis of the death of a spouse. Some said that Roger’s real ministry was through the coffee group he started. Back in the early 1980’s a group would go to early morning Mass and then go for coffee afterwards. Over the years new members pulled up seats to the group’s table, sometimes drawn by Roger personally, with his jokes and playfulness, and other times people simply witnessed the camaraderie and wanted to be a part of it. Meeting at the Corner Bakery at one point, the group was featured in Redlands Community News in April 2019 where Roger was quoted saying, "When you come here with a downer, you leave with a hug and a smile.” It became a family tradition that when his adult children and later, grandchildren, would be visiting, they were encouraged to make an appearance at the coffee group.

His wife of 67 years and his three living children were at his bedside as he entrusted himself into his Father’s heavenly embrace. He is survived by his wife, Aida; children, Guy, Debra (Andrew) and Leila (Sherwood); seven grandsons: Michael, John, James, Christian, Peter, Mark, Paul; brother Gary; and sister Vicki. His funeral will be Thursday, November 6, 2:00pm at Holy Name of Jesus Church at 1205 Columbia Street, Redlands. Please make any donations to Family Service Association of Redlands.