by Emily Schreiber    

On November 7 my husband, Dr. Leonard (a.k.a. Len) Schreiber, lost his long and courageous battle against AML Leukemia. He was born on December 31, 1937.
   
His funeral service took place at Gutterman’s Funeral Home in Rockville Centre, and his military burial was held at Wellwood Cemetery on November 13.  Since he was an Air Force veteran, Taps was played and I was presented with the American flag that had draped his coffin.
   
If a funeral could actually be beautiful, his was – the sun was shining and there was a slight nip in the air. The chapel was full of family, friends and colleagues, and many of them attended the burial at the cemetery; that was comforting to my family and me.
   
During my son Mike’s eulogy, he said, “He entered every room with a smile and a handshake, and he made people feel special. He told his arsenal of jokes to every single person he came in contact with – every single person. If you were within a 50-yard radius of him, he’d find you and he would talk to you. He had a gift for finding common ground with just about everyone, and he made people feel special and interesting even when they were neither special nor interesting.”
    
It was that aspect of his personality, coupled with the expertise of his craft, that enabled him to be the caring and dedicated orthodontist that he was for more than 40 years.  His patients – children as well as adults – entered his offices in Merrick and Bellmore with crooked teeth, and after several years of treatment, they had beautiful smiles.
   
Back in the late ’60s, when he opened his orthodontic practice, his office was at One Merrick Avenue. It was in an old building that stood where there’s now a parking lot across from the Merrick Cinema.  It was so close to the LIRR that when a train went by, the building shook.     
   
The patients seemed to enjoy that!         

A short time later, an office space opened across Merrick Avenue, next to C&R Grand.  His former orthodontic partner, Dr. Sabeeh Khan, continues to make beautiful smiles there at 28 Merrick Avenue.
   
Len loved his work and cared about his patients. Each one of them received a phone call after their braces were in place, because he wanted to know how they were feeling, and to answer any questions they and their parents might have had. If finances were a problem, he usually worked out a mutually agreed upon payment plan, so that the parents could handle the payments.
   
A former patient recently wrote the following message on my FaceBook wall:  “Emily, for my whole life people have been complimenting my smile. Thank you to Dr. Schreiber for creating it.  I’m so very sorry for your loss.” Melanie.
    
My husband was survived by our sons, Steve and Mike; both were Kennedy High School graduates, and they are freelance photographers who live in New York City – Steve in Park Slope and Mike in the East Village.  His brother Paul lives in Maine; his two sisters, Gloria Kalish and Shelly Schultz, reside in Florida. I still enjoy living in Bellmore in the house we bought in 1970 for $46,000!
   
For 45 years, my husband and I were partners in life.  I supported him as he built his orthodontic practice, and he encouraged me to pursue advanced university degrees, resume my teaching career and continue to volunteer through the decades.     
   
To all who were fortunate enough to have known him, Len will always be remembered as a very special human being – one who was unpretentious and caring. So much love, good thoughts and prayers have been sent our way, and no words can express how very grateful my sons and I are for that.