Roland Schreiber, born March 31, 1949 in Leipzig, Germany came to America when he was just 13 years old. He fell in love with our country and would later be described as a True Patriot who deeply loved his country and what it stood for. He met his wife, Helen, on a blind date. Who knew just 9 weeks later he would marry her?

Together, they raised their family in the Chicagoland area. Roland was a wonderful son, son-in-law, husband, father, father-in-law, grandfather, friend and animal lover.

He was a rock to his family members and a light to anyone he crossed paths with. Roland was a role model and a loving friend. If you knew Roland personally, you'll know that he always had a smile on his face. Many of his friends describe him as a kind, happy man even during hard times. He made sure that everyone that surrounded him knew they were loved and appreciated.

Roland was an extreme animal lover, loving any pet dearly.   He had many fur babies during his lifetime.   He loved them fiercely, even making an insulated cat house for the winter for his special feral cats in Chicago.   He was most certainly met at the rainbow bridge by his 8 dogs, 2 grand-dogs, several neighborhood cats, and even ducks with wagging tails and puppy dog kisses!

Roland dearly loved his granddaughters, Elizabeth and Olivia, even moving to Texas to be near them.  He was most certainly seen at every soccer game, swim meet, band concert, football game, and marching band contest that he could possibly attend. The exuberant cheering was usually him.

Roland was a dedicated friend and follower of Bill W.  He absolutely loved the group he found in Texas.  While he was sick the past four months, it was beautiful to watch the amount of support and guidance he received from his Alano friends.  Roland's friends came and visited with him, prayed with him, loved and encouraged him daily.  It warmed our hearts to see how many people Roland has in his life that truly cared about him in his time of need.

One of Roland's favorite pastimes was vacationing with his young bride, Helen.  He was a devout "cruiser" until his daughter, Monika, convinced him to try an all-inclusive resort.  He was shocked at how much he loved all inclusives and visited them quite frequently.  He and Helen spent the majority of their retirement together vacationing SEVERAL times a year, even renewing their wedding vows on their last trip to Tahiti.

While they were home, Roland truly enjoyed showing Helen and the rest of his family and friends his love language, acts of service for others. He would drop anything to help them out.  He visited HEB daily for Helen and we're pretty sure he saved Monika and Pat thousands of dollars in AC repairs over the years.  He created his granddaughter's dream bedrooms…..twice.  If a friend needed help with just about anything, he would be the first one there.

Roland will be terribly missed by his family and friends.  Moving forward will be very difficult without him, but he would want us to keep on living one day at a time.