Lois Carol Schmidt

MOUNT HOREB – Lois Schmidt (74) died peacefully on June 4, 2026, after battling uterine cancer for the past 18 months. She was surrounded by family, in her home in Mount Horeb, Wis.

Born on September 3, 1951, in Rice Lake, Wis., to Ruth (Jindrich) and Bernard “Ben” Lapacinski, Lois attended Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School in Dobie, Wis. She grew up on her family’s Big Buck Potatoes farm along with five siblings. Her problem-solving and resourceful mom instilled in her all the skills necessary for her creative, adaptive, welcoming and family-orientated disposition. She graduated from Rice Lake High School in 1969 and cultivated a life-long love of textiles as she earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in fashion merchandising from University of Wisconsin-Stout in 1973. Lois remained in touch with her college roommates, “the Gambles Girls,” who provided loving support until the end.

Lois met the love of her life, David Schmidt, while working a summer job at Birchwood Lumber and Veneer. Dave and Lois were married in 1975 at Our Lady of Lourdes. After marriage, Lois and Dave lived in Kansas City, Mo., where she worked as a buyer for Harzfeld’s department store. Due to Dave’s work for the railroad, Lois moved throughout the Midwest every few years, making a new home and new friends along the way. Their daughters, Suzanne and Alice, rounded out the family.

Lois had a knack for creating and contributing to their community through church involvement and volunteering in her daughters’ schools and with other organizations. She had a way of always making people feel at ease and welcome. Lois volunteered as a tour guide at Girls and Boys Town, in the gift shop at The Mount Horeb Driftless Historium, and she repaired and laundered donations for the Bargain Nook and Neighbors Helping Neighbors. Lois and Dave joyously celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary on a trip to Montreal, Canada, with their two daughters in 2025.

Becoming a grandma gave Lois another generation of opportunities for sewing Halloween costumes, matching outfits and tailored pajamas. She could make almost anything and taught her daughters to sew, garden, bake, craft and appreciate a good bargain hunt. Lois had an endless reservoir of optimism and saw the potential in literally every little thing. She loved to adopt an unfinished project and bring it to completion. Lois created beauty in every space she entered. She loved reading, going on road trips, playing board games, writing and receiving letters, sending care packages, cheering her children and grandchildren on at sporting events, staying in her pajamas until noon, enjoying a good donut, lighting a prayer candle and collecting quilts, Barbies and antiques. She couldn’t pass up shopping a juicy garage sale, hanging sheets from the clothesline, rescuing a sapling from the lawnmower, and having long chats with her siblings and friends. She was a treasured wife, mother, grandmother and aunt who will be greatly missed.

Lois was preceded in death by her parents, Ben and Ruth Lapacinski. Lois is survived by her husband, David; her daughters, Suzanne (Michael Viola) Schmidt and Alice (James) Kehaya; her four grandchildren, Malaya, Jessamine, Elsie and Mary; her five siblings and their spouses, Judy (Al) Perry, Margaret (Carlton) Nathon, Marilyn (Felix) Fernandes, Bernard (Andrea) Lapacinski, and Robert (Debbie) Lapacinski; as well as 18 nieces and nephews.

Lois’s family would like to thank the doctors and nurses at Carbone Cancer Center, Jess and the Agrace hospice nurses, and Dr. Miner with UW Health for exceptional care during her battle with cancer. Thanks also to everyone who has extended their love through companionship, food, thoughts, letters, prayers, flowers and other meaningful gestures. She truly felt loved and appreciated in the end.

A celebration of Lois’s life will be held at ST. IGNATIUS CATHOLIC CHURCH, 109 S. Sixth St., Mount Horeb, Wis., on Friday, June 19, 2026, with visitation starting at 9:30 a.m. and Mass at 11 a.m. A burial will follow at Calvary Cemetery, Mount Horeb, immediately following Mass.

In lieu of flowers, Lois requested that donations be made in her memory to Neighbors Helping Neighbors (Mount Horeb, Wis.); the Mount Horeb Public Library; Carbone Cancer Center (Madison, Wis.); or The Driftless Historium (Mount Horeb, Wis).

Online condolences may be made at www.gundersonfh.com.

Gunderson Camacho Mount Horeb

Funeral & Cremation Care

500 N. Eighth St.

(608) 437-5077