Evelyn M. Schrier

SCHRIER, Mrs. Evelyn M. Kalamazoo, MI Evelyn passed away Sunday evening June 3, 2007 after a lengthy illness. She was born December 8, 1911 in Kalamazoo, the daughter of Jacob and Winnie Haan Vandersalm. Evelyn was a life long resident of Kalamazoo, graduating from Central High School and Kalamazoo College 1934 with a degree in French. During her youth Evelyn worked with her parents at their family?s company Vandersalm Greenhouses and was a lifelong member of First Reformed Church in Kalamazoo. In June 1935 she was united in marriage to Clarence M. Schrier Ted following his graduation from the University of Michigan Medical School. Evelyn and Clarence were married for 50 years and she is especially remembered as being a very loving homemaker for her husband and son. During the second World War Evelyn and Clarence were stationed in Springfield, Missouri where Clarence served in the U.S. Army Medical Corps as Chief of Neuro psychiatry at Camp Crowder. Clarence assisted the rehabilitation and repatriation of soldiers returning from Europe and the Pacific. After the war they returned to Kalamazoo when Clarence was appointed assistant Medical Superintendent of the Kalamazoo State Hospital. In 1956 he became Medical Superintendent of the hospital which at that time had a census of about 3, 600 in patients. Evelyn helped Clarence by supporting the hospital?s volunteer services programs, was a member of the Women?s Auxiliary of the Kalamazoo Academy of Medicine and an active member of the women?s guild of First Reformed Church in Kalamazoo. Until the mid 1950s State of Michigan employment regulations required State Hospital physicians to maintain their family residences on the grounds of the hospital. However by 1963 changes in the State?s administrative procedures allowed Evelyn and Clarence to build their new home in Kalamazoo?s Winchell neighborhood. They enjoyed vacationing with their son Steven and mother-in-law Winnie, taking them on many cross country auto tours of northern Michigan, the southern and western regions of the United States, Canada?s Gaspe? Peninsula, and New England. When Clarence retired in 1974 they were honored with a gala recognition banquet at Western Michigan University?s Bernhard Center. They were honored for their decades of public service by regional leaders of business, labor, the State legislature, the judiciary, law enforcement and cabinet members of the Federal government including the President of the United States, Richard Nixon. To help educate future generations who may wish to learn more about the history, political development of mental health systems and the care of the mentally ill, Clarence and Evelyn donated many of their papers, transcripts of lectures, photo collections, film and television interviews, to Western Michigan University?s Regional History Archive. The archive is converting their documents and artifacts into a digital database which when completed should provide both students and the public with convenient computer internet access for research projects. Evelyn was predeceased by Clarence in 1986, and by her brothers William J. Vandersalm and James M. Vandersalm of Richland. She is survived by her only son Steven R. Schrier of Kalamazoo, a niece Suzanne Vandersalm of Hickory Corners, nephews William Vandersalm and John Vandersalm of Richland, and Thomas Vandersalm M.D. of MA. The nursing staff at TenderCare Westwood, the medical team of Borgess Pro-Med Physicians, Fountainview Assisted Living of Portage and Rose Arbor Hospice Facility, and volunteers from First & Second Reformed Church are sincerely thanked for providing many years of supportive health care and visitations for Evelyn. Graveside services will be held 11 o?clock Thursday in Riverside Cemetery. Visitation will be 1-5pm Wednesday at the Langeland Family Funeral Home, 622 S. Burdick St. Contributions in remembrance of Evelyn may be made to a charity of your choice, the Western Michigan University West Michigan Regional History Archive, or Hospice of Southwest Michigan.