Maryville High School has had two “Mr. Schneiders” as its band leader. The most famous is Lee T. Schneider, from Andrew County, who led the band from 1960 to 1992. From 1943 to 1945, Maryville had Erwin Schneider from St. Louis (he had earlier taught at Skidmore at age 21 in his first job after graduating from Northwest in 1941. Erwin was married to a woman from Andrew County who was the Apple Blossom Queen in St. Joseph in 1939. She also attended Northwest, and during Erwin’s tenure in Maryville, was an assistant to Principal Bistrow.
After leaving Maryville, he went on to teach music at the University of Tennessee, Ohio State University, and the University of Iowa.
After retiring, they moved to St. Joseph so Jenna Marie Adkins could be close to her Andrew County family. Both passed in St. Joseph. Obituaries say they are both interred at Memorial Gardens in St. Joseph; however, I can only find, for the record, information for Jenna Marie and can’t find anything about Erwin.
MEET THE FACULTY – Hi-Lights
The Maryville Daily Forum, April 7, 1945, Page 2. via Newspapers.com https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-maryville-daily-forum-meet-the-facul/201940957/
Erwin Schnieder has been chosen for the faculty interview this week.
He is the director of music at M.H. S. and has taught here for three years. He has taught at Skidmore as music director and has given private instrument lessons in St. Louis. Mr. Schneider has also been a member of the St. Louis Philharmonic Orchestra, in which he played under the direction of Golschman, Dash, and Goldman.
He has played in the Silver Strings orchestra, which aired on the radio.
Mr. Schnieder has also traveled in the Midwest with the Alan Roth orchestra. Mr. Schneider is a member of the Music Education Association.
His favorite color is brown. He likes all foods, and his favorite sports are hunting and fishing.
As a hobby, he likes to read and, most of all, to play his violin, but on Sunday afternoons he likes to listen to the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. Mr. Schnieders’ wife, the former Jenila Adkins, is secretary to Principal C. A. Bristow.
As to his ambition, Mr. Schnieder wants to get his doctoral degree in Music Education. He would like to attend the Conservatory of Music in Rochester, Illinois.
His pet peeve is people who say, “I don’t have time to practice.”
Erwin H. Schneider (1920-1985)
Savannah Reporter and Andrew County Democrat, October 3, 1985, Page 3. via Newspapers.com https://www.newspapers.com/article/savannah-reporter-and-andrew-county-demo/201925465/
Dr. Erwin Henry Schneider, PhD., St. Joseph, died Sept. 28, 1985, in a St. Joseph hospital. He was born Feb. 17, 1920, in St. Louis and was the son of the late Erwin L. Schneider and Anna Busse Schneider.
He resided in the St. Louis area until attending college at Northwest Missouri State University, Maryville, where he received his bachelor’s degree in 1942. He taught at Skidmore and Maryville High Schools. Dr. Schneider received his master’s degree in 1946 from the University of Kansas and his doctorate in 1956.
He was a founder of music therapy as a field of study while pursuing his doctoral degree. He had taught at Western Colorado State, the University of Tennessee, and Ohio State University, retiring in May 1984 from the University of Iowa as Professor Emeritus. He had served as head of Music Education and Music Therapy at the University of Iowa. He had lived in St. Joseph since his retirement.
He was a member of the First Lutheran Church in St. Joseph and numerous organizations. Surviving are his wife, Jenila Adkins Schneider, of the home; a daughter, Nila Schneider, St. Joseph; two sisters, Bernice Schneider, St. Louis, and Dolores Beckmann, North Bend, Neb.; and several nieces and nephews.
Funeral services were conducted Oct. 1 in the Breit & Hawkins Chapel, Savannah. The Rev. Frank L. Hall officiated with interment in the Memorial Park Cemetery, St. Joseph.
NOTE: Although obituary says he is interred in Memorial Park in St. Joseph Findagrave does not list him and his wife entry in the cemetery does not mention him.
Jenna Marie Adkins crowned Apple Blossom Queen in St. Joseph in 1939 (colorized from St. Joseph News-Press, May 5, 1939, Page 1. via Newspapers.com) https://www.newspapers.com/article/st-joseph-news-press-jenila-marie-adkin/201922884/
Jenila Marie Adkins Schneider (1922-2016)
The 94-year-old concert violinist and music educator was born on February 6, 1922, in rural Andrew County, Missouri, near Rosendale. She was Apple Blossom Queen in 1939, the same year she graduated from Rosendale High School, now North Andrew High School.
That summer, she attended the Chicago Conservatory of Music, and in the fall, she enrolled in Northwest Missouri State Teachers College in Maryville, now Northwest Missouri State University. While attending classes and performing in the college orchestras, she worked as the secretary to the principal of Maryville High School. On November 29, 1941, she married concert violinist Erwin H. Schneider, who was teaching at the high schools in both Skidmore and Maryville.
In 1945, she moved to Lawrence, Kansas, to attend the University of Kansas, where she completed her Bachelor of Science in Music in 1946 while working in the university’s Registrar’s Office. From the fall of 1946 to the summer of 1948, she taught elementary music in De Soto, Kansas, while her husband completed his Master’s Degree.
In the fall of 1948, she moved to Gunnison, Colorado, where she played in the city orchestra and the orchestra for Western State College. She moved to Knoxville, Tennessee, to play with many orchestras in the area, including the Knoxville Symphony and the University of Tennessee Symphony, while her husband taught at the University of Tennessee.
In 1956, she retired from concretizing to care for her daughter.
The family moved to Columbus, Ohio, where she was a member of the Symphony Women’s Guild and the Ohio State Faculty Women’s Club.
In 1968, she returned to Savannah, Missouri, to care for her elderly parents, moving to St, Joseph in 1983, where she remained until her death from a lengthy illness. She enjoyed her vacation home in Harlingen, Texas, her nine years as a Girl Scout leader in both Ohio and Iowa, and her member and patroness status with the music fraternity Sigma Alpha Iota in Tennessee, Ohio, and Iowa. She was a 75-year member of the Savannah Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Dr. Erwin H. Schneider, and her parents, Opal and Chester Adkins.
She is survived by her daughter, Nila Schneider of St. Joseph; her sister-in-law, Dolores Beckmann of Lincoln, Nebraska; and many nieces, nephews, and cousins.
Graveside Farewell Services & Interment, 10:00 A.M., Monday, Memorial Park Cemetery. Care provided by Meierhoffer Funeral Home & Crematory. Flowers are appreciated, and for those wishing to make a contribution, the family requests that it be made to any musical organization, food pantry, or nursing home.
Findagrave Listing at Memorial Park – St. Joseph (does not list husband)
Jokes About Two Mr. Schneider Band Leaders at Maryville High School
- Maryville kept continuity in the band — same last name, different first-name solos.
- When someone asked who was conducting, the answer was always “Mr. Schneider” — the school never worried about substitutes.
- Two Mr. Schneiders mean twice the baton wisdom and zero chance of losing the band folder.
- The band’s biggest rivalry? Erwin’s swing versus Lee T.’s trumpet solos — both claimed the family name.
- Maryville fans never needed a program: whenever “Mr. Schneider” walked on stage, the band members checked the decade.
- The band had a built-in alumni discount: if your conductor was a Schneider, you got immediate respect.
- Introducing the conductors: “Mr. Schneider, Erwin” and “Mr. Schneider, Lee T.” — the PA system still asked, “Which one?”
- Maryville’s band handbook: Rule #1 — listen to Mr. Schneider. Rule #2 — specify which one.
- Two Schneiders, one baton tradition — the only thing that changed was the tie.
- With two Mr. Schneiders, the band never had to explain why the baton was heirloom-quality.
- Concert night confusion solved: if it’s wartime recordings, it’s Erwin; if it’s decade-spanning pep rallies, it’s Lee T.
- Their combined résumé? Decades of perfect timing, one last name, zero scheduling conflicts.