Nancy Schmidt

Born Nancy June Doubleday on Monday (Monday’s child is fair of face) December 20, 1948, to Don and Helen (Long) in Joliet, Illinois.  On Tuesday, July 5, 2022, she left this earth after a surgical procedure at Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee to try to improve the circulation in her legs.

After graduating high school in Kalamazoo, Michigan, Nancy briefly attended Millikin University in Decatur, Illinois before embarking on a lifetime of service jobs from waitressing to bartending to portrait studio to flight attendant to dealer at Potawatomi.  She was a wonderful example of hard work by serving others while maintaining a positive outlook in life and a wonderfully wicked sense of humor.

On July 19, 2008, she married Gerald Schmidt, and did her best to provide and care for him.  She was graciously accepted into his family by his three daughters, affectionately known as The Grills, and their families.

In January 2020, Nancy was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia.  She fought bravely during her treatments up to and including a bone marrow transplant.  Through it all, she rarely complained and kept an optimistic attitude, even after her cancer returned in 2022.

Nancy was preceded in death by her parents and her beloved husband, Gerald.

She is survived by her daughter, Katherine Wessel; sister, Kay Moratz; stepdaughters, Jenn Patzer, Ericka Schmidt, Holly McCormick, and their families; nephews Mike and Greg Moratz and their families; cousins Laurie Long Thompson and Orrin Long and their families; and countless friends and loved ones.

The family would like to thank Froedtert Hospital and their staff for their care in their attempts to help Nancy fight her cancer and improve the quality of her life.

Nancy preferred to not have a funeral service, and the family would like to thank everyone for their kind words of love and support during this difficult time.  Any memorials can be sent to the charity of your choosing, or the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.  They provided Nancy with financial assistance during her cancer fight, and we are thankful for their support.

Mom wrote these words in 1983 to someone who had experienced a sudden loss, and I’m paraphrasing here:

“There are probably no words I can express to ease your grief.  But we shouldn’t grieve - we should be confident that _____ has now a much happier existence.  For every one person that moves from what we know to be life - to what we believe to be Heaven, there are always us left behind in confusion and fear.  Do not grieve for _____, grieve for the emptiness and loneliness that is left in the hearts of the people that cared for him/her.

Be confident that all that _____  still exists, only the physical body that carried him/her around is gone.

No matter what - all of our lives continue on, hopefully with each new experience - we gain knowledge, valuable insight, to make our own existence worthwhile.”

Cress Funeral & Cremation Service

1310 Emerald Terrace, Sun Prairie

(608) 837-9054