It’s an issue many of us have encountered. How do you properly pronounce the name of Webster Schroeder High School?
I thought the question had been decided long ago; the proper pronunciation, as far as I knew, is “SchRAYder” with the long A. “SchROder,” I’ve always told people, is the name of the piano player in the Charlie Brown Christmas special.
But apparently it’s still an issue for some. Several days ago I got an email from Sandy Leary, who wrote that during a recent trip to Wegmans, she overheard some staff members chatting about how to pronounce the school’s name. She suggested I put the question out to my readers to determine the definitive answer.
Not surprisingly, my post attracted a LOT of attention, which tells me what a hot-button issue this really is. I heard from alums, current and retired teachers, parents of kids who attended Schroeder, and even someone who competed in sports against Schroeder many years ago. As of yesterday, I had received 111 comments. Only FOUR of them said the name should be pronounced “SchROder.”
Everyone was very firm in their convictions, for one reason or another. Much of the discussion revolved around the name’s spelling, which apparently comes from German roots. Diana M. pointed out that the umlaut over the O makes it sound like an A in German. Rosele W. agreed that SchRAYder is the German pronunciation, adding that her maiden name, Boehmer (pronounced Baymer) is similar.
My teacher friend Pat injected a little English rule of law, reminding everyone that “when two vowels go a-walkin’, the first one does the talkin’,” adding, “Except in Webster, it doesn’t!”
Most of the responses, however, were less about phonology and more about personal experience, basically saying that, “it’s always been SchRAYder since I/my kids went there.”
Others pointed out that during a sports contest, the cheerleaders pronounce it “SchRAYder,” and TV news stations do the same when they report on a story from the high school. Cathy A. wrote that she once asked the folks in the front office, who also confirmed the “SchRAYder” pronunciation.
Finally, I think the most definitive comment came from our friends at the Webster Museum, who confirmed that, “Herbert W. Schroeder, who the school was named for, pronounced his last name SchRAYder.”
Case closed.
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(posted 9/21/2023)
webster on the web 
Thanks for doing this one! – Dave
I was doing a little poking around in response to a question about this blog, and I came across an old blog I wrote 9 years ago about Webster High (now Spry). I’m going to re-post it sometime soon. You’ll enjoy that one, so keep an eye out for it.
I am Washington Commander/Redskins Fan. In the 80’s we drafted a talented young QB Named Jay Schoeder. At first, the local media and the fan base called him Jay “Shrow-der”. He corrected the local media and fan base that his last name is pronounced “Shray-der”. So, thanks to our 1980’s rookie QB Jay Schoeder, I knew that the name is pronounce “Shrayder”. Too young to know what I am talking about? Go ahead, google Jay Schoeder.
That is really interesting! I guess that kind of REALLY puts the issue to bed. Thanks for the comment!