Donald W. Schroeder, Jr.

"Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom:
and with all thy getting, get understanding." Proverbs 4:7

Donald W. Schroeder, Jr., age 74, of Carlisle, passed away on Sunday, April 17, 2016 at the Carlisle Regional Medical Center.
He was born March 26, 1942 in Harrisburg, PA to the late Dr. Donald W. Schroeder, Sr. and Dorothy Holtzman Schroeder.
Don was Salutatorian of the 1960 graduating class at John Harris High School, Harrisburg. He later graduated from Carnegie Tech with a Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering.
After working several years for Columbia Gas (Columbus, Ohio) Don moved to Carlisle and joined Stoner Associates in June of 1978. With his programming abilities and experience in the natural gas industry, he quickly took over responsibilities of developing and maintaining the company's flagship natural gas piping system software. His involvement and wise counsel on gas industry matters greatly assisted the growth of this young company. As the company matured, Don served as the director of analytics for all of the Stoner analytical products. As such he provided guidance for all of the computations for the company's network analysis software used for steady-state, transient, and optimization analyses. Don's talents and intellect have influenced pipeline system design and operations world-wide. Today, the software he guided is used in over 40 countries by more than 650 companies in the water, hydrocarbon, and natural gas industries. In the United States over 90% of the major gas companies benefit daily from Don's efforts, as well as the millions of customers they serve. Don possessed a wealth of knowledge concerning the pipeline industry and was always available to any staff member, any time, to share his knowledge. All that worked with Don knew him as a teacher, a mentor, an advocate, and a good friend. He retired from GL Noble Denton in January 2012.
Beyond the scope of the company itself, Don was a member of the board of directors for the Pipeline Simulation Interest Group, an independent industry association that facilitates the interchange of information and advances the state of the art in modeling, simulation, optimization, steady-state and transient flows, single and multiphase flows, and related subjects as applied to fluid pipeline systems. Don was a founding member in 1969 and became its third chairman. He then became past chairman and a member of the executive committee, a position he held until 1994 when he took over as treasurer. He served as treasurer until 2012 when he retired. Thus, Don was actively engaged with PSIG for 43 years. He was a vocal contributor to the management of PSIG throughout his tenure. Other board members looked to him as the guiding light on how things should get done. When Don spoke, people listened.
In 2014 the PSIG board created a scholarship in Don's name. This was done without his knowledge and announced at the Baltimore annual meeting. The scholarship was for a graduate student who was engaged in a study that was compatible with the PSIG goal. A selection committee within PSIG selects candidates for the board to vote on. The first recipient was brought to the 2015 annual meeting in New Orleans to speak briefly to the attendees. Don treasured this early tribute to him.
A great source of joy for Donald was music and playing the French horn. He played as part of the Harrisburg Symphony for 15 years and also with the Dickinson College Carlisle Community Orchestra for nearly 20 years. He was part of various brass ensembles including Carlisle Brass of which he was one of the founding members. As much as he enjoyed playing, in later years it gave him satisfaction to teach horn to students in the local area.
In addition to being an avid reader, Don enjoyed traveling and skiing with his wife and family. Family vacations were often spent in Wildwood Crest, NJ and in later years, Summit County in Colorado for skiing. Seven Springs and Roundtop Ski Resorts were always local favorites. He and his wife enjoyed traveling the United States and Europe. Of the many places he visited, he was particularly fond of Paris.
Don was very active in his church, First United Church of Christ, and its leadership. He was elected as a Deacon on the Consistory in June 1980 and served on the Stewardship council. In 1985 he was elected as an Elder on Consistory and served on the Church & Ministry Council, numerous times, Stewardship Council again, and the Search Committee and the Advisory Council. As an Elder he was a part of the Spiritual Council and on a team to serve communion. Don also was instrumental in the establishing of the Fine Arts Council, in which he was presently the Chairman, and devoted much time and energy to this program. Don was serving on the Consistory with the Stewardship Council at the time of his death.
He is survived by his wife of 47 years, Marion B. Schroeder of Carlisle; two daughters, Suzanne M. (and husband Matthew) Sentman of Lewisberry and Karen M. (and husband David) Roberts of Norristown; and one granddaughter, Madeline S. Sentman of Lewisberry. He was a loving and generous husband, father, father in-law, and grandfather. He will be missed.
Memorial services will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday, May 3, 2016 at First United Church of Christ, 30 N. Pitt Street, Carlisle, PA with Rev. Chris Schwab officiating. There will be a visitation at the church from 10:00 a.m. until the time of the services.
Memorial contributions may be made to Celtic Hospice, 900 Century Drive, Suite 201, Mechanicsburg, PA 17055 and to the PSIG scholarship fund that was created in his honor. Contributions directed to the PSIG scholarship fund should include a note stating that the contribution is in memory of Don Schroeder. Checks should be made payable to PSIG, Inc. and sent to the following address: PSIG, Inc., 945 McKinney, Suite #106, Houston, TX 77002, Attn.: Mike Goodman, Treasurer.
Hoffman Funeral Home & Crematory, 2020 W. Trindle Road, Carlisle, PA is handling the arrangements.