Schroeder, good friend of the arts and charities, dies

Tuesday, June 22, 1999 | 11:42 a.m.

Just before she received the Nevada Opera Theatre Guild's International Friendship Award in April, Las Vegas socialite Colleen Schroeder said, as the old saying goes, her life truly began at age 40.

It was then in 1969 that her husband, Army Lt. Col. Don Schroeder, the liaison officer at Nellis Air Force Base, was killed in the Vietnam War. Her father, Floyd Carroll, a veterinarian and cowboy, also died that year.

Schroeder, at the time a housewife and mother of four who had lived in Las Vegas just three years, quickly pulled her life together, taking a job as regional fashion coordinator for the Broadway Stores and putting on some of the city's most dynamic fashion shows.

Colleen Sylvia Schroeder, a cultural activist who founded the Nevada Symphony Orchestra Guild and conducted fund-raisers for numerous local charities, died Friday at Nathan Adelson Hospice of liver cancer. She was 71.

Services for Schroeder, who lived in Las Vegas 33 years, will be 1 p.m. Saturday at Christ Episcopal Church, 2100 S. Maryland Parkway.

"She was diligent in all of her efforts," said Angie Wallin, a friend of 35 years who serves as development coordinator of the Nevada Association for the Handicapped, one of Schroeder's favorite causes.

"Colleen was one of the state's most vocal activists for the arts. She worked hard to help the less fortunate and always added a personal touch of glamour to everything she did."

Sally Wathen, former Symphony Guild president, remembered her friend as "an invincible, independent woman. She was so strong and so giving."

"Colleen was a woman of great integrity," said Georgia Neu, artistic director of the Actors Repertory Theatre in Summerlin and a friend of 16 years. "She will be difficult if not impossible to replace in the arts community."

Schroeder helped such organizations as Lighthouse Compassionate Care, which assists people with AIDS and their families, the Hadassah Medical Organization, Opportunity Village, the American Heart, Kidney and Diabetes associations, St. Jude's, the American Cancer Society and St. Rose Dominican Hospital.

Born Colleen Carroll on March 4, 1928, in Hollywood, Calif., she was the fourth of six children of the former Grace Parks. Colleen's father, who had performed in Wyoming rodeos, was working as a movie stunt rider at the time.

The family moved to Laramie, Wyo., where Floyd owned a ranch and worked as a veterinarian. Colleen graduated from Laramie High School and the University of Wyoming.

As a teenager Schroeder aspired to be an actress and performed in community and school theatre productions. She also studied for a year at the Cleveland Playhouse, but gave up that potential career for marriage and a family.

The Schroeders came to Las Vegas in 1966, and Colleen initially worked as both a model and substitute teacher. Her husband was killed while boarding a helicopter during his second tour of duty in Vietnam. She never remarried.

As an executive for the Broadway, Schroeder ran the lavish Colleen & Company fashion shows, hosted three Broadway Youth Council Regional Film Festivals and worked closely with celebrities such as Lauren Hutton and Diane Von Furstenberg.

"In that capacity, I met half the population of Las Vegas," Schroeder said in a brief biography she wrote this year. She also judged beauty pageants and appeared regularly on local television and radio shows.

Schroeder joined the Nevada Symphony in 1982 and later served on its board of directors. She was credited with helping to start programs such as the Picnic Pops and busing children to concerts at UNLV's Artemus Ham Hall.

In 1984 she founded the Symphony Guild and served two years as its president.

Schroeder was a board member of the Nevada Arts Advocates, which will dedicate its Arts Awareness Luncheon Wednesday to her memory. She also was a member of the Sierra Wind and the Mesquite Club.

In March, at the Nevada Women's History Project's Remembering Millenary Show, Schroeder modeled an assortment of feather hats, including a chapeau from the My Fair Lady collection. Two months later she was diagnosed with cancer.

Schroeder is survived by two sons, Steven Schroeder and Scott Schroeder, both of Las Vegas; two daughters, Shelly Schroeder of San Francisco and Sandra Schroeder of Atlantic City, N.J.; a brother, Tom Carroll of Cheyenne, Wyo.; three sisters, Bev Ball of San Antonio, Isabel Christopherson of Chicago and Mary Palmer of Alexandria, Va.; a grandson, Brandon Schiff; and three granddaughters, Erin, Alecia and Samantha Schroeder. Schroeder was preceded in death by a sister, Linda Lee Smith.

The family said donations can be made in her memory to the Nevada Symphony Orchestra, PO Box 19479, Las Vegas, NV 89132, and Betty Honn's Animal Adoption Limited, PO Box 90640, Henderson, NV 89009.