Michael Conley Schooler

Mike was my older brother. He was born on September 2, 1950 in Rayville, LA, the oldest son of Beatrice and James Schooler. Mike held a special place in my heart that only a brother could. Growing up, we were fortunate to have a mother and father who loved us dearly, and we were blessed with a little sister, Belinda, whom we enjoyed picking on instead of fighting each other. Mike and I wrestled in fun but never raised a fist in anger to one another. We did get up to a lot of mischief over the years. Once we strayed onto the building site of the First Baptist Church in Bastrop, LA, where we got stuck in the mud and had to be rescued. Later on, Mike and I were baptized in this church.

Mike was exceptionally smart; a B grade was never seen on his report cards. We didn’t know until Mike was about nine years old that he was legally blind. He learned to read by holding books up very close to his face and he often memorized what he heard.

Mike was also unusually talented musically and played trumpet in grade school. Later, he attended Louisiana Tech, where he played in the Tech band and the Dixieland Show Band and majored first in physics and then music. He fell in love with Susan Stedman, the daughter of his former high-school band director, and they were married in 1974, in the Baptist church where Mike and I had gotten stuck in the mud years earlier.

Once he graduated from college, Mike was hired as a Band Director in Austin, TX. He was visionary and charismatic and beloved by his students. Unfortunately he realized it was exceptionally difficult to support a family on a teacher's salary, so a few years after his daughter Alison was born, he landed in the oil drilling business, where he met his best friend, Dan Keen. With Mike’s brains and Dan’s charisma, they started a number of successful oil-related businesses together in and around Giddings, TX.

Mike was always up for a good time, whether it was hunting, fishing, golfing, car racing, or going to Astros or Texas A&M games. He was known in his community for his generous heart, his fair dealings in business, his delight in good food of any kind, and his love of a good joke. His family and friends remember him as a kind husband, a loving father, an adoring grandfather, and the life of every party.

With Mike's passing we believe it won’t be long before he will join in with Gabriel's own trumpets in heaven, glorifying our Lord God and his son Jesus.

Mike was preceded in death by his mother, Beatrice Viola Schooler, and his father, James Conly Schooler. He is survived by his wife of forty years, Susan Stedman Schooler, of Giddings, TX; his daughter Alison Gray of Greenville, SC and her husband Will; his three grandchildren, Eden, Vincent and Sydney Gray; his brother Randy Schooler and his wife Ruth; and his sister Belinda McCarley and her husband Bruce.

A Memorial Service will be held on Sunday, January 15 at the First Baptist Church in Giddings, TX. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to Soteria Community Development Corporation. Condolences may be posted at https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/greenville-sc/michael-schooler-11051473.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.mackeywoodlawn.com for the Schooler family.