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Orville Vernon Schneider was born October 27, 1913, in Hitchcock, Oklahoma, to Samuel and Nettie Schneider. At the age of four he was run over by a Buick. He survived without injuries and his mother dedicated him to the Lord’s work. Orville was 20 years old when his father died. He stayed home to do the farming for a couple of years, but his mother had not forgotten her promise to the Lord, so sent him off to finish his education at Union College. It was there that he met Rosetta Mae Anderson, a girl from Anoka, Minnesota.
They married August 16, 1939 and went to work for the Texico Conference of Seventh-day Adventists as a pastor and evangelist in Littlefield, Midland, Hereford, and San Angelo. But the Lord was calling him into teaching. From 1941-48 he taught in Lubbock, Texas, DesMoines, Iowa, and Maplewood Academy in Minnesota. Mission service then took the family to the Inter-American Division for five years, part of the time serving as the President of the Cayman Island Mission and then as Educational Superintendent of the West Indies Union Conference in Jamaica. Then it was back to teaching, 7 years in Florida at Tampa Jr. Academy and Forest Lake Academy. 1960-1973 Orville taught Bible and History at Andrews Academy, Berrien Springs, Michigan.
Upon retirement, he and Rosetta moved to Seffner, Florida, where they helped to revive the Plant City Seventh-day Adventist Church and built a mission home on the island of Cayman Brac. After 44 years of marriage, Rosetta passed away October 2, 1983. Orville remarried to Viola Lutz. They were married 19½ years spending their retirement years living in Maine and California. Camping and traveling in their camper van gave them many happy years together.
Orville & Rosetta had three children, Kimber Schneider, Loma Linda, CA,
Valerie Nelson, Mechanicsville, MD, and Noel Schneider, Portland, ME.
Orville leaves 8 grandchildren, and one great grandchild, four step
children, 11 step grandchildren, and 13 great grandchildren.