COMEDIAN Rob Schneider on Tuesday, January 12, announced that his Filipina mother died over the weekend.
In an Instagram post, the Fil-Am actor said that his mother, Pilar Monroe Schneider, “passed away peacefully after spending a perfect Sunday evening family dinner surrounded with loved ones at her side.”
Schneider paid tribute to his mother by sharing her life story as a World War II survivor from the Philippines who “had smallpox.” He also said Pilar was “raised for the first three years by her aunt.”
“Then one day this well dressed family showed up and told her they were her family and introduced her to her mother, Victoria,” wrote Schneider.
He further said that Pilar grew up without a father as the American soldier “abandoned her family before Pilar was born.” They only met by accident 22 years later in San Francisco. Meanwhile, Pilar’s brothers, John and Bill, were “both killed by the Japanese as teenagers.”
According to Schneider, food was scarce during the war, and Pilar’s family survived because of her ingenuity.
“Her mother and sisters sewed pajamas from bed sheets and traded them with the farmers for sweet potatoes (kamotes), the ones that the Japanese didn’t steal from her,” he wrote.
“After the war Pilar was able to ‘pay for school’ because she and her sister Rose found money the Japanese buried in a cave (along with what they thought were metal pineapples which turned out to be hand grenades),” he added.
Pilar graduated from the University of Santo Tomas in Manila and moved to the United States in the 1950s. There, she earned her master’s degree as a reading specialist and was later elected to the school board in Pacifica, California.
“Pilar b[e]came a beloved teacher for [three] decades and three generations of children who would be grateful that years later she remembered every one of their names,” said Schneider.
“After retiring from teaching Pilar made sure that the [s]chools in her town where she raised all her children, Pacifica, all had music teachers and music classes, a program she ran for 15 years,” he added.
In an Instagram post, the Fil-Am actor said that his mother, Pilar Monroe Schneider, “passed away peacefully after spending a perfect Sunday evening family dinner surrounded with loved ones at her side.”
Schneider concluded his post by saying he is “proud to say [he is] the son of Pilar Monroe Schneider.”
Schneider is an actor and comedian popularly known for starring in films such as “50 First Dates,” “Click,” and “Grown Ups.”
His most recent film, “Hubie Halloween,” hit Netflix in October, also starring Adam Sandler and Julie Bowen. “Asian Momma, Mexican Kids,” his first Netflix comedy special, premiered last August.
