Bernard "Bernie" Schreck

Bernard James Schreck died peacefully in his sleep on January 3rd, 2025, at the age of 83. He leaves behind his wife, Mary Kim, his four children Tracy Herman, Marsha (Micheal) Jones, Chris (Angie) Schreck, Kelly Stephens, and his four step-children Christopher Triefenbach, Gregory Triefenbach, Jane Bannester, and Jeremy (Katy) Triefenbach, his seventeen grandchildren and one great-grandchild on the way. He was the son of Albert and Anna Schreck of Wayland, Missouri, and brother to the late Larry (Dorie) Schreck, Eddie Schreck, and to Vince (Candace) Schreck who survives him. He is also survived by his first wife and mother of his four children, Patricia Schreck.

Bernie was born December 5th, 1941, in Freeport, Texas, two days before Pearl Harbor. Six years later his parents bought a farm next to his grandparents’ farm in their home town of Wayland, Missouri, for $12,000 with earnings saved from work in Texas. He attended Oak Ridge School where Bernie was the epitome of a “Little House on the Prairie” boy—who milks cows for spending money, rode a horse to the one room school house, and started the fire in the wood-burning stove on cold days.

He went to Kahoka High School and played basketball and held the school record for most points in a season for fifty nine years. Then he attended and played ball for Moberly Junior College on scholarship. He graduated from Northeast Missouri Teachers College in 1964. Bernie began his professional career in Gorin, South Shelby, and North Shelby before moving to St. Charles where he spent the rest of his time in the Francis Howell School District as a teacher, coach and administrator. He retired as the first principal of Francis Howell Middle School in 1998. As his daughter Kelly aptly wrote about him “my father was a brilliant man. He was strong, and he was kind. He was generous. He embodied respect for others, nature, and God. His presence was felt and his words were spoken with spirit and integrity.” He touched many lives over the years and no one who met him has ever forgotten him.

During his 27 years in retirement, Bernie had the opportunity to spend himself on many of the areas of his life he loved. He purchased land and built a hunting lodge, he planted trees and worked with the state Conservation Dept. programs to protect and nurture his lands. Above all, he hunted and relished the life long communal joy of companionship in sharing these experiences with family and friends.

Bernie and his wife spent 20 plus years at the Lake of the Ozarks where he indulged another passion—fishing. He fished for bass “on the circuit” under the sponsorship of the local Hy-Vee grocery store where he also worked part time in a variety of capacities.

When not hunting or fishing or making blue bird houses, Bernie and Mary Kim traveled, read, walked, made fires in winter, listened to instrumentals, and found a deep enjoyment in being part of the beauty of nature. When he began to fall victim to trouble with the arteries in his legs as his father had years earlier, they moved from a house on the water to a house in the woods in Troy, Missouri., which he helped design and his stepson Greg built.. This house allowed him to function with more normality and comfort when his health and vitality began to leave him.

Bernie Schreck was always larger than life and as he provided a sense of protection and optimism to those around him, he derived his own peace and optimism from his relationship to God.

In lieu of flowers please make donations in Bernie's memory to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital or Shriners Children's Hospital St. Louis, MO.