PORTSMOUTH, N.H. — The Rev. John R. Schroeder, beloved husband and father, self-taught musician, pastor, wise counsel, and caring friend to countless northern New Englanders since the 1950s, departed this life Sunday, Oct. 23, while under treatment at Portsmouth Hospital. A longtime resident of the seacoast area, he had celebrated his 95th birthday in June and his 70th wedding anniversary in September.

Born and raised in Yonkers, N.Y., Rev. Schroeder attended Syracuse University on a basketball scholarship and graduated magna cum laude in 1937. He earned his Master of Divinity degree from Colgate Rochester Divinity School and was ordained as a minister of the American Baptist Churches in 1942. In the same year, he wed high school classmate Marion Louise Jones, who would remain his partner for life.

In 1962, he accepted a call to the United Baptist Church of Lewiston, Maine. There he ministered for all the years of the turbulent 1960s, nurturing a long-held association between the church and the faculty, staff, and students of Bates College, promoting ecumenism, and garnering criticism as well as praise for his vocal support of the antiwar movement and other progressive causes of the era.

In 1971, Rev. Schroeder assumed the pastorate of the First Baptist Church of Melrose, Mass. There, as in his previous posts, he was noted for weaving humor and the voices of secular as well as biblical authors into his preaching.

Rev. Schroeder was a fixture on the beach at Ocean Park, Maine, for nearly 40 summers. What began in the late 1950s with a chaplaincy at the OP youth camp evolved into a long association with the people and programs of “The Park.”

The Rev. Schroeder is survived by his wife, Marion; eldest daughter, Johanna (Chase); son, John Clayton (“Clayt”); younger daughter, Linnea; and five grandchildren, and one great-granddaughter.

To sign an online guestbook please visit www.chadwickfuneralservice.com.