Cole William Schmidtknecht

2001 - 2024

Cole William Schmidtknecht

With great sadness, Dwayne and Jerrine Page are mourning the loss of their grandson Cole William Schmidtknecht. Cole died at the age of 22 on Sunday, January 21, 2024, in Appleton, WI as a result of a severe asthma attack, leading to cardiac arrest, and ultimately his death.

Cole was born on March 18, 2001, to Bil and Shanon Schmidtknecht in LaCrosse, WI.

Cole always did life on his own terms. He earned the nickname "Mr. Independent" even as a toddler, waking himself up on Saturday mornings, getting his own dish of oranges and sippy of milk from the fridge, heading to his toy room, and watching morning cartoons all on his own.

When his mom dropped him off for kindergarten, he put his little hand on her shoulder from the back seat and said, "It's ok Mom, I can do it". He continued to walk his own path and do things his own way.

Cole always had the most curious mind. From questions on the way to school like "But Mom, how did like the bears and stuff even get across the ocean when they were first made?" to sending the most random texts to his mom just in recent weeks like, "Pokemon is older than me??", with zero context. His friends say that they could talk to him forever because he had the most random, interesting knowledge.

Cole found his passion for gaming in his pre-teen years which caused some serious arguments in the household. "Go outside and play, you can't just sit around and play video games all day, you're not going to grow up to be a gamer". But he was persistent and gaming was one thing he was not going to let go of. Cole ended up in gaming tournaments and had a channel on Twitch with a decent online following. Most of Cole's closest friends today are his gaming buddies. Watching Cole stream you could see the joy it brought him. He smiled, he laughed, he sang and he danced.

Cole made the move back to the Appleton area with his bestie Mitchell a year and a half ago. These past couple of years were the happiest Cole had been in quite some time. There was nothing his family loved more than seeing him happy, healthy, and living his best life. Why this freak asthma attack took him down at the best time of his life, we will truly never understand. But knowing that he is leaving this earth happy brings us some sense of peace.

Cole had recently said he wanted a tattoo of an elephant on his forearm. An elephant represents strength, wisdom, and compassion. Elephants are strong, loving animals who love deeply for their herd. We could not describe our son any better.

Cole is survived by his parents, Bil and Shanon Schmidtknecht, and his younger brother, Dane; his grandparents, John and Lynn Schmidtknecht, Dwayne and Jerrine Page; his aunts and uncles, Ashlee (Nate) Schroud, Alex Schmidtknecht, Jada (Andy) Callahan; his cousins, Cameron Schmidtknecht, Brighton Zech, Lennox and Spencer Schroud, Maddie and McKenzie Callahan, and so many friends who loved him fiercely. Cole is preceded in death by his uncle, Andrew Schmidtknecht.

Cole would want you to know this - (And his mom knows because he told her this often when she'd worry about silly or insignificant things) he'd say, "Stop it, who cares about that stuff, just be happy. Life is too short". And no one knows that, now, better than him.

Please join us for a Celebration of Cole's beautiful life on Sunday, January 28, 2024, at Lake Windsor Country Club (4628 Golf Dr, Windsor, WI) from 1:00-4:00 p.m. Thank you for loving our sweet Cole.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the UW Organ and Tissue Donation organization in honor of Cole's giving spirit. https://give.wiscmedicine.org/give/392773/#!/donation/checkout