Several alumni of Chamblee High School shared their memories of Dr. Jack and Dee Schreeder when I was looking for stories about the couple. The alumni were grateful for all that Jack and Dee did for them and for the community.
Dr. John Marvel Schreeder, known as Jack or Doc, first moved to Chamblee in 1933 with his family. He attended Georgia Tech, earning a degree in Public Health Engineering. On Christmas Eve 1940, he married Dee Stevens. They lived in a home on about 12 acres next door to Chamblee Methodist Church, where the Regency Cove subdivision is today.
Dr. Schreeder served during World War II in the Mediterranean and European theaters and was awarded the Bronze Star and French War Cross. After the war, he attended Emory University Medical School. He did his residency at Grady Memorial Hospital and Lawson General Hospital in Chamblee. Then he joined Dr. W. A. Mendenhall’s office and small hospital in Chamblee.
Several of the former students were delivered by Dr. Schreeder; in his office, at hospitals, and sometimes at their home. When there was an emergency at night, he made house calls.
Terri Joiner Jones remembers Dr. Mendenhall, and later Dr. Schreeder, had an office next door to Chamblee High School. According to Leah Carden Jennings, Dr. Schreeder, known as Doc Schreeder, was the Chamblee football doctor. “He patched my husband’s broken ribs and sent him back in the game.” Tony Martin, who returned to Chamblee later to coach, shared a memory of Dr. Schreeder setting his collarbone during halftime of a football game in 1959. Martin was a Senior at the time. Gary Gentry recalls that Doc set his broken nose three times in one day.
Ric Smith remembers, “I think Doc was at almost every home football game through my sophomore year-1977. He was visible before games. I remember he had a hat that reminded me of Bear Bryant.”
Chamblee High School was the only high school in north DeKalb County for a long time, until new schools were built. Cross Keys opened in 1958, Sequoyah in 1964, and Peachtree in 1968.
The Schreeders did not have children, but they helped many young people in the community by giving them a place to live, for any reason. Jimmie Hatch Batchelor says they often housed students so they could remain at Chamblee High School. The couple housed several teenage boys through the years, but occasionally they housed girls and younger children.
Dee Schreeder was the leader of Girl Scout Troop 348. Sandra Herndon remembers Dr. Schreeder giving the girls vaccinations before they left for summer camp.
The Chamblee Garden Club met at the Schreeder home and Dee served as President of the North Clairmont Woman’s Club, who sponsored a Rock n Roll clubhouse for local teens. (Atlanta Constitution, April 15, 1957, “Movies, Teen-age Dancing Group are Sponsored by Woman’s Club”)
Vivian Price Saffold says the Schreeders donated money for the first CHS bulldog mascot around 1967 and kept it at their home. The mascot was known as Cham or Cham B. Lee. Tony Martin also recalls the English bulldogs the Schreeders raised as the team mascot, which they would bring to pep rallies.
Bob McMains, who lived with the Schreeders for two years remembers the couple fondly. They offered a home to McMains in 1959 so he could finish high school at Chamblee. His mother needed to relocate due to an illness.
Looking back on his time with the Schreeders, McMains says, “For the first time in my life, I was not in control of my comings and goings. I was expected for breakfast, dinner, study time, and chore time. Much of what I was to become in life was due to their help and example.” After McMains graduated from Chamblee he continued to live with the Schreeders during his first year at Oglethorpe University.