The Passing of Rober Schindler

We received the sad news that Bob Schindler, father of Terri Schiavo,
passed away early this morning.

The family of Robert Schindler, Sr. releases the following statement:
Robert S. Schindler, Sr., of Gulfport, Florida, father of the late
Terri Schindler Schiavo, passed away August 29, 2009 from heart
failure at Northside Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Robert fought valiantly to save the life of his brain- injured daughter
Terri in the landmark right to life case that culminated in her imposed
death by court-ordered starvation and thirst on March 31, 2005. After
Terri's death, along with his wife Mary, daughter Suzanne (Schindler)
Vitadamo and son Bobby Schindler, he founded the Terri Schindler Schiavo
Foundation in St. Petersburg dedicated to supporting other families faced
with the same need to fight for the rights of their disabled or otherwise
vulnerable loved ones.

Robert was born in Philadelphia on October 23, 1937 and was 71 years
of age. Proceeded in death by his daughter Theresa Schindler. He is
survived by his wife Mary, daughter Suzanne Vitadamo (Michael), son
Bobby Schindler and granddaughter Alexandra.

A Mass of Christian burial with visitation preceding will be scheduled to
make place in Philadelphia, PA. Times and location will be announced at a
later date.

Memorials may be made to the Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation,
5562 Central Avenue, Suite 2, Saint Petersburg, FL 33707,
phone (727) 490-7603

We are quite thankful for the courageous stand Bob Schindler took
against euthanasia on behalf of his daughter and the disabled. He did
not seek the limelight or controversy but responded by virtue of his
love for his daughter and understanding of truth and justice.

Join me in praying for his family as they grieve the loss of their father.

The Passing of Rober Schindler

Posted: 30 Aug 2009 16:10 PM CST

We received the sad news that Bob Schindler, father of Terri Schiavo, passed away early this morning. Augest 29, 2009.

The family of Robert Schindler, Sr. releases the following statement:
Robert S. Schindler, Sr., of Gulfport, Florida, father of the late Terri Schindler Schiavo, passed away August 29, 2009 from heart failure at Northside Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Robert fought valiantly to save the life of his brain- injured daughter Terri in the landmark right to life case that culminated in her imposed death by court-ordered starvation and thirst on March 31, 2005. After Terri's death, along with his wife Mary, daughter Suzanne (Schindler) Vitadamo and son Bobby Schindler, he founded the Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation in St. Petersburg dedicated to supporting other families faced with the same need to fight for the rights of their disabled or otherwise vulnerable loved ones.

Robert was born in Philadelphia on October 23, 1937 and was 71 years of age. Proceeded in death by his daughter Theresa Schindler. He is survived by his wife Mary, daughter Suzanne Vitadamo (Michael), son Bobby Schindler and granddaughter Alexandra.
A Mass of Christian burial with visitation preceding will be scheduled to take place in Philadelphia, PA. Times and location will be announced at a later date.

Memorials may be made to the Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation, 5562 Central Avenue, Suite 2, Saint Petersburg, FL 33707, phone (727) 490-7603.We are quite thankful for the courageous stand Bob Schindler took against euthanasia on behalf of his daughter and the disabled. He did not seek the limelight or controversy but responded by virtue of his love for his daughter and understanding of truth and justice.

Join me in praying for his family as they grieve the loss of their father.

Theresa Marie Schindier (1963-2005

Terri was born in Pennsyvania on December 03, 1963 to Robert and Mary Schindier and passed away in Pinellas Park, Florida on march 31, 2005 at the age of 41.

Terri, hidden away for 15 years by her estranged husband Michael Schiavo, touched more lives in her 41 years then many of us do in our entire life lifetime. Michael denied Terri available and needed therapy, preventing her progress in recovering from her brain injury resulting from an accident. Even so, Even after he denied her therapy Terri still found her own natural skills to smile and communicate with her family.

From March 18, 2005 until March 31, 2005, the World watched helplessly as Michael Schiavo inflicted the worst kind of inhumane death on Terri as we, as a civilized society, could possible imagine, Michael deprived Terri of any food or water for 14 days causing her death.

Despite Terri not given any water or food, Terri fought hard for her life, and for 14 days showed her family and the world how much she had wanted to live. However on, March 31, 2005 at 9:05 AM, Terri's deprived and weaken body could no longer fight, Michael Schiavo with the aid of judge Greer were able to legally complete the murder of Terri.

Terri is free from harm and abuse now, she is in the loving hands of our God.

Please visit Terri's Memorial Website and light a candle in her memory. Please remember to thank and support the wonderful lady who had and continues working to insure others may live. Cheryl Ford Fight4Terri@aol.com created 'Terri's Memorial Website' let us remember to love and fight for the weak and abused.

http://theresa-schindler.memory-of.com/about.aspx

Open Letter To Florida State Guardianship Association

Executive Director
Florida Guardianship Assoc.
August 8, 2005

It has become obvious to me, now that you've disgraced the value placed upon being recognized by the Florida Guardianship Association by honoring Michael Schiavos for allowing you to joyfully participate and share equal credit in the unnecessary taking of yet another life. You and each member of the Guardianship Assoc. should feel shamed by your willful disregard for patients rights and human dignity.

These days, as I browse a site I created in Memory of Terri, I am flooded with the images of those final days. Images of a police presence surrounding Terri's room. Had they been there to protect her I could admire them, but their presence like yours was to insure Terri would not be saved by those who felt compassion and love for Terri in her helplessness.

Even the action of a small child, wishing to save a life...with a very small amount of water cupped in tiny hands led to his wrongful arrest, placed in handcuffs like a criminal, all the while the shadow of a murderer lurked nearby. Not even a child's innocence was going to prevent Terri's legal guardian, Michael Schiavos her husband, helped by the Florida Guardianship Association, and Judge Greer of Florida's judicial system in carrying out this murder. One lone woman, cut off from the world, unable to resist the abuse being done her. No, not by a stranger, but by her own husband, and the staff of the hospice in which Michael had imprisoned her as he manipulated and connived to complete his diabolical goal.

America, held at bay and forced by the full might of government to do no more then watch helplessly as they protected those inflecting cruel and barbaric pain upon Terri, denying her of even the most basic of items needed to sustain life.

World Events forgotten as the media focused America's attention upon one women imprisoned in a house of horrors in a place I've never heard of before, tucked away in Florida. Oh the media loved it, and spared no expense in surrounding it with a circus like atmosphere. They even created polls to keep track of public feelings, did you know, only 1 of every 3 people polled supported Terri's right to life? I can guess where you stood in the polls.


May God have mercy upon you

Wm H Bolt

Ten Year Old Arrested for Giving Food to Terri Schiavo Apologizes

Ten year-old Joshua Heldreth, the eldest of eight children, was arrested on Good Friday of this year for trespassing while attempting to bring a drink of water to Miss Terri Schaivo. Days later Schiavo died of intentional dehydration. In court Joshua pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 25 hours of community service and ordered to write an apology for his actions.

The boy whose arrest photo was splashed on front pages of newspapers across the nation wrote in his apology letter, "I was arrested on Good Friday for trespassing on the hospice center's property . . . Not giving Mrs. Shiavo (sic) food or water was wrong. The reason I had to go on your property was because Jesus would do the same thing. It made me sad that she was so thirsty and it made Jesus sad too. I knew she would die without water and I am called by Jesus to be a defender of the defenceless. So I had to go on your property to try to bring her a drink."

Joshua added, "I am sorry that you didn't like that and wouldn't allow me to help save her life and one day you will have to tell God why. I won't be able to help you then like I tried to help her. I will pray for you every day . . ."

LifeSiteNews.com caught up with Joshua's father Scott Heldreth today. Scott told LifeSiteNews.com he is very proud of his son. "My son has amazed me through this whole thing," said Heldreth. The proud father said it was his son's own initiative to attempt to give the starving woman a glass of water, and despite the warning of his parents that he'd be arrested, the boy insisted. "He was the one who begged us to go down, because he wanted to give her a glass of water . . . We explained that police will never let you help . . . you'll be arrested, but he went anyways."

Pro-life leader Rev. Flip Benham of Operation Save America told LifeSiteNews.com that the whole pro-life movement shares Heldreth's pride in his son. Benham recalls the reaction of Heldreth on Good Friday as he watched his son being arrested: "When that all took place Scott was weeping, this father was weeping tears of joy seeing his son not only talk the Christian talk but walk the walk."

While the apology letter has been submitted, Heldreth told LifeSiteNews.com he's not completely sure it will be accepted.

See Joshua's full handwritten apology letter here:
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005_docs/JoshuaApolog

Ten Year Old Arrested for Giving Food to Terri Schiavo Apologizes
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/aug/05083103.html

The Letter
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005_docs/JoshuaApology.pdf

Attorney For Terry Shiavo Family Explains Causes of Tragic Result of Schiavo Case

Attorney For Terry Shiavo Family Explains Causes of Tragic Result of Schiavo Case. Robert Destro Warns Many Similar But Unpublicized Cases are 'Happening Every Day.'

August 18, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) "The degree of disconnect between the description of the Terri Schiavo case in the media, and the reality of the case is pretty profound," laments Robert Destro, the lawyer who performed vital pro bono legal work for the family of Terri Schiavo in their final bid to save Terri's life from the hands of her husband and the courts.

In an interview with Anita Crane of the American Life League Destro reveals many of the disturbing legal anomalies, often stepping into the realm of the patently illegal, that sadly distinguished the Schiavo case.

In particular Destro remains deeply critical of the actions of judge Greer, whose failure to act and whose often illegal handling of the case resulted in Terri's eventual murder by starvation and dehydration. "You can't really make up facts of this case" "I felt like I was caught in Wonderland or Neverland. Terri never got a fair hearing," attests Destro. "Florida law expressly requires probate judges to see the incompetent patients whose cases are pending before them, but Greer never went to see Terri."

Destro complains that his efforts to represent Terri and her family were frustrated by the courts at every turn of the road. Laws created to protect Terri were struck down as unconstitutional, appeals to higher courts intended to rectify blatant and gross legal malpractices in the lower courts were refused, and painstakingly slow court processes were unnecessarily initiated in the midst of emergency time restraints.

But Destro's criticisms aren't only reserved for the anti-life forces that expended immense amounts of time, effort and money in ensuring that Terri served as the poster-child for their pro-euthanasia agenda. The experienced and able lawyer believes that in many ways pro-life forces failed to act to the fullest of their abilities to protect Terri, especially their unwillingness or inability to work with perceived political enemies who offered support.

"My experience in civil rights," says Destro, "teaches me that it makes no difference that some civil rights advocates are pro-choice. If our goal is to protect and preserve the rights of vulnerable persons, we must put those vulnerable persons first and try as best we can to understand the needs and wants of those whom we are trying to protect. [But sometimes] we fail in our duty to the extent that we are unwilling or unable, for whatever reason, to work with our political opponents on behalf of those whose lives society does not value. Terri Schiavo was one of those persons. There are many, many more like her."

Destro warns pro-life advocates not to underestimate the extent of the cultural force that they are facing. The visibility of Terri's case is the exception, not the rule. Euthanasia is already happening every day. We need to understand that families like the Schindlers exist all over this country and the system isn't designed to help them to care for their loved ones at home.

Read Anita Crane's full-length report, outlining the many abuses of the Schiavo case as explained by the Schinler's lawyer, Robert Destro:

Inside the Terri Schiavo case: And why it matters now
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005_docs/Destro.pdf