Lois Anne (Schmidt) Cook

Lois Anne (Schmidt) Cook, 79, passed away on Monday, May 2, 2022 at her home in Lexington, Kentucky.  Service will be Thursday, May 12, 2022, 11:00 a.m. at Merten-Butler Mortuary Chapel, Blue Hill, Nebraska with Pastor Leah Krotz officiating.  Burial will be in Oak Creek Cemetery in rural Webster County.  Visitation will be from 5:00-8:00 p.m. on Wednesday, May 11, 2022 at Merten-Butler Mortuary.  A memorial has been established to be designated at a later date.  Private condolences may be sent to the family at www.mertenbutlermortuary.com.  Merten-Butler Mortuary, Blue Hill, Nebraska is in charge of arrangements.

Lois was born on September 27, 1942 to Frank and Albina (Lukas) Schmidt in Webster County.  She was the oldest of two daughters.  Lois received her education in one room schools and Rosemont Elementary School, graduating from Blue Hill High School with the class of 1960 where she was a majorette with the bobcat band.  After graduation she worked in Hastings and came home to Blue Hill for the 4th of July Celebration where she met Don.  They began their life of 62 years together when they were married on January 1, 1961 at the Rosemont Presbyterian Church.  Their honeymoon was a trip on route 66 to California where they began their life together.  Don, Jr. joined the family in February of 1962 and the family returned to Nebraska where Don started teaching school at Riverton, Nebraska.  Doug joined the family in 1963 and Lois became a “Stay at home Mom” with two lively boys to keep her on her toes.

Lois decided with the three men in school to join them and enrolled in Jr. College eventually receiving her degree in English/Library Science and began her teaching career.  She continued college earning two Master’s Degree’s in counseling and special needs counseling.  With the year around teaching salaries, summer vacations became the norm.  Lois and Don started square dancing, traveling and camping.  The Cook family camped and square danced across the U.S. from coast to coast several times until the boy’s graduated High School.  Their lifestyle continued into retirement with added participation in United Methodist Women’s and Men’s organizations becoming the family vocation.  Lois became very active in Local, Conference and National-District UMW organizations which enabled Lois and Don to travel to all 50 states.  Lois also became interested in pursuing her and Don’s family genealogy which led to two trips to Europe in 1985 and 2015.  Lois was able to visit her ancestral home to the Lukas’s in Czechoslovakia twice.

Lois is survived by her husband, Don, Sr.; sons, Don, Jr. and Douglas (Dana); sister, Helen (Terry) Dickey; grandchildren, Cody Leach, Brittany (Alex) Romano, Cassidy (Chris) Detcadachanh; great grandchildren, Jamison, Riley and Remi Detcadachanh; sister-in-law, Sherry (Jack) Christopher; numerous, nieces, nephews and cousins.  She is preceded in death by her parents.

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