Elaine Natzke Schmidt

Elaine Natzke Schmidt, 93, died peacefully Tuesday morning, October 14, 2025, at Parkview Estates in Wayside, Wisconsin. Born on June 3, 1932, at the family home in Wayside, Elaine Elsie Lydia Natzke was the eldest child of Amos and Loraine (Kiekhaefer) Natzke. She was baptized and confirmed at Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church in Wayside and attended Zion Lutheran School. Beginning high school in De Pere, she was among the first classes to graduate from the newly opened Racine Lutheran High School in 1950.
On February 3, 1951, she married Staff Sergeant Wayne Schmidt of Wrightstown, Wisconsin, at Zion Lutheran Church in Wayside. After marriage, Elaine followed her husband when he was stationed at Sheppard Air Force Base in Wichita Falls, Texas, then to Chanute Air Force Base in Rantoul, Illinois. When Wayne completed his military service, the couple settled in Buckley where both were active members of Saint John's Evangelical Lutheran Church and where, in her younger years,
Elaine was in the choir, was a member of Ladies' Aid and, as the first of their six children entered school, the Parent-Teacher League.
In 2019, the couple retired to Parkview Estates. Wayne died on January 3, 2020. Elaine had a passion for cooking and an especial talent for baking. Known locally for her pies and sweet rolls, Elaine established Schmidt's Catering, providing meals for any event from intimate family gathering to banquets of several hundred throughout Central Illinois and Eastern Indiana for some forty years. She enjoyed celebrating Thanksgiving by delivering holiday meals to the less-fortunate families and shut-ins in Buckley. At the same time, she served as the hotlunch cook at Saint John's Lutheran School in Buckley where the children loved her home-made bread, sweet rolls, and doughnuts. During her last years at the school, she was serving grandchildren of students who'd been through her lunch line when she'd first begun. When the church wished to honor her retirement from Saint John's, Elaine insisted on preparing a "hot lunch" for the entire congregation following the Sunday-morning service. Many who attended had lined up at her counters when they were students themselves.
In 2007, on a visit hosted by the historian Rudolf von Thadden, the German-French Institute, and the Bosch Foundation, Elaine had the unforgettable experience of joining all of her brothers and her sister for a week in Germany and a visit to Trieglaff and the von Thadden estates in the former German province of Pommern from whence her ancestors had emigrated to the United States in 1838.
Elaine is survived by her children, Clyde, Missouri; Lynne Schmidt-Barlow, Ballwin, Missouri; Lisa (Pat) Rock, Dwight, Illinois; Clynt, Maple, Wisconsin; LuAnn (Barry) O'Connor, Hot Springs, Arkansas; and Lori (Kevin) Fetters of Buckley, Illinois; eight grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren; her siblings, Royal, Roger (Karen), Bob, Bill (Connie), Dave (Nila), Dan (Barb), and Eileen (Leo) Bordeleau; her in-laws, Ruth Schmidt, Keith Montanye, Gene (Jean) Schmidt, and Lee (Sharon Puttmann) Schmidt.
She was pre-deceased by her husband Wayne, son-in-law Rick Rascher, her parents Amos & Loraine, parents in-law Harris (Carolyn) Schmidt and Erma (Pete) Conrad; sisters-inlaw Dorothy Natzke, Flo Natzke, and Karen Montanye; and by her brother-in-law Ralph Schmidt.
Visitation begins at 9:00A.M., Wednesday, October 22 at Zion Lutheran Church in Wayside, 8378 County W, with funeral service to follow at 11:00A.M. and burial in the church cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorial contributions to a worthy cause of the donor's choice.