Brenda Lee Echeverría

MIDDLETON - Brenda Lee Echeverría (née Wolter), 68, unexpectedly left this world on January 7, 2025. She was born September 24, 1956, to the late Nina Alberta and Daniel Henry Wolter in Marshfield, Wis.

In her youth, she was gregarious and adventurous. She participated in 4H and was involved in theater, music, and cheerleading. While sitting in a car with a friend, she spotted a dark-haired Guatemalan exchange student crossing the sidewalk into Loyal High School and said, “That’s my future husband.”

She attended UW-Stevens Point as a dance and theater major but, after a year, decided to follow him to Guatemala. She and Carlos Raúl Echeverría married in 1975, in Guatemala City, where they resided until 1978. They moved to Madison, Wis., then to Weymouth, Mass., and eventually resided in Oakdale, Conn., with their children. In Connecticut, she began working at Connecticut Investment Management. While working full-time and part-time at H&R Block, she earned a Bachelor of Science from the University of Connecticut - Storrs, CT for Business and Finance in 2002.

In 2002, Brenda returned to Wisconsin and settled in Middleton. She worked at Mennenga Tax & Financial Service for five years. She found her passion for helping public school employees plan their financial futures at WEA Member Benefits (Retirement and Insurance Programs for Wisconsin Public School Employees). Brenda was days away from retirement from WEA, where she worked for 16+ years. She would often tell stories to her children about the people she helped while at WEA. She was reluctant to retire because she loved helping people so much.

Brenda was an amazing fiber artist, though she might have just called herself a knitter. She claimed to be anti-social but anyone who spent time with her knows just how warm and thoughtful she was. She was sassy, and silly, and made the best faces. She taught her children how to make Guatemalan food and her Christmas sugar cookies. She was completely generous. She always welcomed family to come and stay with her if they needed a place to stay for a while. She loved gardening and dancing Lindy Hop. She loved her dog, Charlie. And most of all, she loved her family. She was looking forward to traveling and spending more time with her family in her retirement. She often talked about the trips she took with her sister, Joyce, to France, her daughter, Victoria, to Italy, her niece, Cheryl, to Ireland, and her daughter, Daniella, to Belgium. And she had so many more trips she was looking forward to. She was born to adventure.

Brenda was preceded in death by her sisters, Beverly Crowley and Joyce Ritzenthaler; and former husband, Carlos Raúl Echeverría. Brenda leaves behind a myriad of loved ones: her sister, Diana Schuette; children, Brenda Alis (Jon Quimby) of Roscoe, Ill. with their five children, Keira, Madison, Shamus, Deklan, and Ronan; Victoria Marisol of Madison and her daughter, Laurel; Daniella Maria of Corvallis, Ore., Carlos Raul Jr. of Middleton; and Nina Lee (Asia Johnson) of Edgerton; and her in-laws in Guatemala will also miss her dearly.

A graveside service was held at Natural Path Sanctuary, 2299 Spring Rose Road, Verona, from 1 p.m. until 1:30 p.m. on Friday, January 10, 2025.

In lieu of flowers, please support your local schools and educators or donate at adoptaclassroom.org.

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

Gunderson West

Funeral & Cremation Care

7435 University Ave.

(608) 831-6761