Saskatoon StarPhoenix

Hundreds honour fallen Meadow Lake paramedic

Man killed in ambulance crash was ‘born with great character’

- JENNIFER ACKERMAN

A devoutly religious man, it was a comfort to some who knew Leigh Schroeder that prayer was a part of the 28-year-old’s final moments of life.

“When I spoke with Gwen, Leigh’s mother, after his passing I found courage in her words,” said a close friend of Schroeder’s.

Through her tears, she explained that an RCMP officer prayed with her son as he passed away.

“She proclaimed that I will have to pray for others in this way when I am an RCMP officer,” he said. “This is something that I hold onto as I continue with my training.”

A primary care paramedic in Meadow Lake, Schroeder was responding to an EMS call when a truck collided with his ambulance, killing Schroeder on Oct. 25 on an icy road near Beauvel. Two children in the truck were also killed.

“I will always remember Leigh as my silent partner,” said the man who did not identify himself, but was part of a group called “The Brotherhoo­d” — a collection of Schroeder’s closest friends — that paid special tribute to their fallen brother during a memorial service Sunday afternoon.

A procession­al of first responders, from police to firefighte­rs, helped an EMS Honour Guard bring a ceremonial stretcher out of an ambulance and into Regina’s Living Hope Alliance Church where hundreds gathered to pay their respects. Atop a Canadian flag and EMS flag that draped over the stretcher sat a single stethoscop­e and a handful of other items symbolic of Schroeder’s work.

Family watched from the sidewalk, wiping silent tears from red faces as a light snow fell around them. Inside, EMS members laid roses on the stretcher as mournful notes from a bagpiper filled the cavernous church. When the music stopped and nothing but the electrical buzz of the building could be heard as the family took their place at the front of the church.

“When special people touch our lives they teach us how to live,” said Pastor Kirk Cowman as he welcomed the crowd and said an opening prayer.

Cowman was among a handful of family and close friends who took to the stage to share memories and words about Schroeder. He was remembered as a quiet, stoic man with a heart that yearned to serve others.

Deeply involved in his church, he also spent years participat­ing, volunteeri­ng at and eventually serving on the board of the Katepwa Lake Camp. He enjoyed working on his truck and had an impressive gun collection.

Mechanical­ly inclined from a young age, Schroeder earned his Journeyman Electricia­n at SIAST, but switched careers in 2017 when the constructi­on industry went into a downtown. He graduated as a primary care paramedic in June 2018 and was working with the Saskatchew­an Health Authority (SHA) EMS in Meadow Lake up until his death.

“Leigh, I saw so much in you that just came naturally,” his oldest brother Ryan said. “You didn’t need an older brother to build up your character. You were born with great character.”

Ryan reminisced about trying to teach his brother how to throw a baseball and eventually drive a s tick manual-transmissi­on car. Living in different provinces, he said, they hadn’t seen enough of each other lately, but he never imagined he wouldn’t have the chance.

“You left this earth much too soon. It is unfair and so hard to understand,” he said, his words choked by tears. “I know my world will never look and feel the same as it did when you were in it.”

Amid the tears, moments of laughter emerged as friends remembered the good times they shared with Schroeder over the years.

He went by the name Wildman 2000 when he signed onto his

X-box and was known for his blond barbed-wire-like hair that never changed year to year. He was the friend who’d go on a ski trip with his friends, despite the fact that he didn’t ski or snowboard and he would eat the camp breakfast his friend had burnt, when no one else could stomach it.

“You fools would be the first to go in an apocalypse” another friend recalled him saying one such morning. The room filled with laughter and the love everyone felt for Schroeder seemed to bring a needed moment of peace.

Pastor Cowman recalled a story he’d heard about after Schroeder’s church group got snowed in during a meeting. Without pause, Schroeder was out in the parking lot digging out everyone’s vehicles and what was normally a 20-minute drive home, took hours as he made sure every single person got home safe that night.

“All the good memories of my life have you in them and I can’t quite fathom that those memories are all I have left,” another friend said. “Leigh, I loved you like a brother.”

Schroeder’s parents, Gwendolyn and Rudy, thanked everyone who helped organize the service and each person who called and texted with words of support or sent food.

“Our Leigh would have been overwhelme­d with your kindness,” his mother, Gwendolyn, said.

 ?? BRANDON HARDER ?? An honour guard unloads a stretcher bearing a Canadian flag and personal items at the funeral of Leigh Schroeder. The service for the paramedic killed in a crash on an icy northern Saskatchew­an road was held Monday at Living Hope Alliance Church on Green Falls Drive in Regina.
BRANDON HARDER An honour guard unloads a stretcher bearing a Canadian flag and personal items at the funeral of Leigh Schroeder. The service for the paramedic killed in a crash on an icy northern Saskatchew­an road was held Monday at Living Hope Alliance Church on Green Falls Drive in Regina.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Canada