Strelsa Wade Schreiber

Strelsa Wade Schreiber was born in Ironton, Ohio on July 30, 1915 and grew up in Portsmouth, Ohio. She graduated with highest distinction from Portsmouth High School and attended Fenn College (now Cleveland State University) and worked as a secretary and merchandising assistant in Portsmouth, Cincinnati, and Cleveland. During World War II she joined the National Youth Administration where she met and married Jay Schreiber, who was area director for southern Ohio and northern Kentucky. When the war ended they moved to Cleveland, where he became a teacher at John Marshall High School, and she became the mother of a daughter and two sons. When Ford Motor Company built a new plant in Cleveland, Jay was appointed Training Director. After several years, he was promoted and transferred to the Training Division at the Rouge Plant in Dearborn, Michigan. As the mother of three children, Strelsa always had an interest in education, was active in PTA and was the first woman appointed to the Board of Education in Livonia, Michigan, as well as the Wayne County Board of Education and the Michigan Association of School Boards. When her husband retired, they moved to Port St. Lucie, Florida while all three of her children attended the University of Michigan. Strelsa continued her activity as Vice President of the League of Women Voters of St. Lucie County, joined the Garden Club, became manager of the Port St. Lucie Community Center and was named to the Indian River Community College Foundation Board of Directors, where she served for 22 years. She served as a columnist for the Port St. Lucie Tribune for 27 years. When she left Livonia, an instructional center was named in her honor at Churchill High School, and in Port St. Lucie, a conference center bears her name. She organized and co-founded the Port St. Lucie Business Women, the Democratic Women’s Club, a hospital auxiliary to serve the new Port St. Lucie Medical Center, and was commissioned to write a book about Port St. Lucie’s early years. The hurricanes of 2004 destroyed her home and most of her possessions, and she moved to Grand Rapids, MI to live with her daughter Paula and her husband John.She was preceded in death by her husband, Jay and twin daughters, Ann and Deborah who died at birth. She is survived by daughter Paul (John) Gaylord, sons Jay Schreiber and Dan Schreiber, grandsons Martin (Rebecca) Stein, J.P. (Stephanie) Gaylord, and Robert Gaylord, and two great grandchildren, Cooper and Noa SteinServices: A memorial service will be held on Friday, January 18, 2008 at 3:00 PM at the Schreiber Center at IRCC’s St. Lucie West Campus.