Duane Schroeder

Duane was born March 23, 1942 in Minneapolis, MN to Howard and Anna Mae (Nelson) Schroeder, both deceased. He spent the first 20 years in Minneapolis graduating from Washburn High School, and then attended Brown Institute gaining a diploma in Industrial Electronics in 1963.

After graduating from Brown, Duane worked for Control Data in St. Paul, Minnesota. He married Kathie Johnson in 1965 and they spent their honeymoon traveling to a new job in Arizona at the Sperry Phoenix Company. He worked as a technician and supported many projects including the flight testing of Boeing’s B-747 flight control system in Seattle. In later years he was involved in the NASA Space Shuttle MDM program. Duane attended night school and graduated from Arizona State University in 1974 with a Bachelors of Science in Business, specializing in Finance. After graduation he accepted a position at Sperry as a Financial Analyst. Duane moved his family to Cedar Rapids, Iowa for a short stay at Collins Radio during their worst winter in 50 years. He decided a year later that Phoenix was preferrable, returning to Sperry Flight Systems in Phoenix as a Business Analyst. He spent a short time with Hugh’s Helicopter before settling down at Motorola Govt. Group (later bought by General Dynamics) working as a cost analyst on the USG’s STU-III program. He retired from General Dynamics after moving to a position as a Contract Manager. In retirement Duane returned to his love of electronics and taught himself basic computer networking as well as fabricating many PCs with the latest technologies for his family and relatives. He enjoyed garden and yard work and strove to have the most beautifully landscaped yard in his neighborhood. Duane became interested in researching his family genealogy after urging his eldest daughter who also shared that interest.

Kathie and Duane raised a family while he was attending night school. Duane is survived by his wife Kathie and two daughters, Tamara Lynn Howard and Dawn Marie Schroeder both of Phoenix, three grandchildren Connor, Jacob (Myrah-Lynn) and Claire Howard, and his great grandchild Jayden Duane Howard; by brothers Lloyd (Susan) living in Minnesota and Tim (Candace) Schroeder living in Texas, and many cousins, nephews and nieces. He is preceded in death by parents, sister Rhoda Mae Schroeder (Minneapolis) and brother Phillip Schroeder (Seattle) and all aunts and uncles. Duane was a member of AA for 35+ years.

Services to be held at Discovery Pointe Church, 9812 W Yearling Rd in Peoria, AZ, 85383 on Saturday June 26, 2021 at 10:30am and Burial will be at Phoenix Memorial Park, 200 W Beardsley Rd in Phoenix, AZ 85027 on Monday June 28, 2021 at 10:30am.

In lieu of flowers

Donations to be made to

AIM at Melanoma

https://www.aimatmelanoma.org/

OR

Hospice of The Valley

hov.org