John (Jack) Caterson Schneider

John (Jack) Caterson Schneider, 98, of Georgetown, Maine, passed away peacefully in the presence of loving family on April 1, 2025, at Mid Coast Hospital in Bath. He was born on June 28, 1926, in Camden, New Jersey, the son of John Miller Schneider and Elisabeth Caterson Schneider of South Philadelphia.

     Jack grew up in Haddonfield, New Jersey. Upon graduation from high school in 1944, he was drafted into the US Navy, served for two years as a ship’s cook in WW2’s Pacific Theater, and was honorably discharged in 1954. Thanks in part to the GI Bill, he earned a combined BA/MFA in painting from the University of Pennsylvania and Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 1951. The following year, he met Trudi Schweikhard, of Neunkirchen, Germany in Washington, DC, where he worked as a graphic artist at the Pentagon and she as a newly emigrated translator for government historians documenting WW2. They married on February 14, 1953 in Haddonfield and navigated life’s adventures together until Trudi’s passing on December 23, 2018.

     Starting as a young teen, Jack worked hard his whole life. He mowed thirty weekly summer lawns and hauled ice blocks up three flights to waiting ice boxes. He drove trucks from Philly to South Jersey, loading and unloading hundred pound flour sacks. He painted cold cuts logos on the sides of Dietz and Watson trucks. He did take a break for six months to explore his beloved Mexico in an old pick up, DIY camper shell attached and dog Roger along for company. Jack and Trudi settled in Woodstown, New Jersey, where he taught elementary and high school art, earning extra income driving a school bus during the school year and for migrant children from local farms in the summer. He moonlighted using his painting skills to keep the school’s fences looking beautiful. In 1966, Jack and Trudi moved three kids and two horses north to Farmington, Maine, where Jack embarked on a long career as a professor at UMF, teaching studio art and art history, and (reluctantly) serving for many years as department chair. He was awarded sabbaticals for post graduate work at UMass Amherst and to pursue his passion for Native American culture in the American Southwest.

     When he retired in 1989, Jack and Trudi purchased property in Georgetown and built the family home where he lived until his passing. He was an avid participant in the Georgetown community, serving on several town committees and as longtime director of the Georgetown Festival of the Arts. He was the author and illustrator of several children’s books, including Allagash River Towboat, published by Downeast. A fine watercolorist and oil painter in his earlier years, he turned to sculpture during his time in Georgetown and created his last pieces just months before his passing. As Georgetown’s oldest citizen, he received the 2023 Boston Post Cane and a memorable convertible ride in the 2024 Fourth of July Parade.

     Jack was a lifelong animal lover, from his first dogs Treva and Roger to his last horse Sunrise Serenade. He relished all things outdoors: gardening with Trudi, fishing the Carrabassett River, carving a Native American style kiln pit in the driveway to fire his students’ pottery creations, rescuing and rehabbing an old gaff-rigged sailboat, felling trees, stocking firewood at annual Wood Day on Robinhood Road, and clearing the Georgetown driveway with his beloved snow blower for all except his last winter.

     Jack and Trudi were enthusiastic travelers, relishing their adventures in Europe, Mexico, Thailand, India, Russia, Cuba, Puerto Rico, across the US, and most of all, family visits to Germany and the Pacific Northwest.

Jack was a friend and thoughtful confidante to many. Any advice he shared was wise and brief. He loved a good laugh, a rigorous political discussion and especially a local tale recounted by his son JP (complete with Maine accent). His annual solo as a jolly (if slightly menacing) Santa Claus in Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer will be sorely missed, as will his jitterbugging, deep knowledge of art and history, delight listening all to things Bossa Nova, and the particularly content smile that settled on his face when surrounded by his offspring playing music. His legacy of artistic talent and love of family live in the stories and drawings he crafted for his granddaughter and great grandsons. There was no birthday card as special as one from Opa. His fascination for the world around him, joie de vivre and oft-repeated “I’m just curious” will ever be inspirations to those who loved and learned from him.

     Jack was preceded in death by his wife Trudi and son JP.

     Jack will be lovingly remembered by daughters Claudia Schneider and her husband Ed Campbell and Annelisa Schneider and her husband Philo Calhoun; granddaughter Elisabeth Ruby Hobbs and her husband Shaun Pidcock; great-grandsons Miles Hobbs-Pidcock and Brigham Hobbs-Pidcock; and numerous nieces and nephews in Germany.

     Memorial donations in Jack’s memory may be directed to the Laura E Richards Library, Historical Society and Fire Department in Georgetown.

A Celebration of Life for Jack and his beloved son JP will be held on Sunday, October 12, 2025 at 2pm at the Topsham Grange, 47 Pleasant Street in Topsam, Maine. The family looks forward to celebrating their beautiful lives together with you.

Online condolences may be shared at Daigle Funeral Home at https://www.daiglefuneralhome.com.