Dolores Marie (Delphey) Schmitt, age 87, died on Jan. 2, 2026, at her home in Madison, Wis. She was born on March 2, 1938, to Edward A. and Mildred M. (Hogan) Delphey in Dubuque, Iowa.

Dolores grew up in Harpers Ferry, Iowa, on the bank of the Mississippi River where her father, grandfather and uncles worked together as commercial fishermen. Many of her fondest childhood memories were of helping them and spending time on the riverbank with her sister, cousins, and her dear friend Judy (Wiedner) Indihar. Dolores played high school basketball for the Harpers Ferry Shamrocks, and after graduating from the Iowa State Teacher’s College, she and her friend Marie (McMahon) Ascatigno accepted jobs at Glendale Elementary School in Madison, where they joined a lively social circle and attended many parties. As Dolores would tell it, just like the song, one enchanted evening she saw a UW-Madison law student across a crowded room, and she knew she would see him again and again.

Dolores married Capt. David Clarence Holmberg on Feb. 8, 1964, at St. Ann’s Church in Harpers Ferry. Just four months later, soon after she had learned she was pregnant, two officers came to her door. Dave died in an accident while serving with the Wisconsin Air National Guard at Madison’s Truax Field. This would be the defining moment of Dolores’ life, and the beginning of a lifelong spiritual journey of deepening her relationship with God. Her grief was immense, but she would later reflect that it shaped her into a more contemplative and compassionate person. Dolores will always be remembered as a kind and caring confidant to anyone who needed one.

With the support of family and friends, Dolores continued teaching kindergarten in Madison at Dudgeon, Thoreau and Midvale Elementary Schools while raising her daughter. They moved to the Westmorland Neighborhood in 1969, where Dolores met James Edward “Ned” Schmitt, a widower raising his two young sons just down the street. Dolores and Ned married at Our Lady Queen of Peace Church on Aug. 6, 1971. They joined their two families by adopting each other’s children, and later had a daughter together.

Family meant everything to Dolores, and she had a unique, treasured relationship with each of her grandchildren. As a child, she loved hearing stories about her ancestors, and as an adult, her love of genealogy often guided family vacations and amateur archaeological digs. Dolores cherished her hometown and visiting with her cousins, and she enjoyed sharing the beauty of the Mississippi River and surrounding bluffs with her close friends. When she knew she was dying, Dolores chose to spend as much time as she could at her childhood home on the river. She could never forget the sound of her dad and uncle’s launch coming home on Harpers Slough.

Dolores is survived by her children Mary Lynn (Michael) Kessenich, James (Carol) Schmitt, Jr., William (Susan) Schmitt and Kathleen (Jeffery) Kline; grandchildren, Harrison and Drew Kessenich, Molly and Curtis Schmitt, Liam and Aidan Schmitt, and Oskar and Delphey Kline; sister-in-law Catherine Toomey and brother-in-law Charles Rollins; and several nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents; husbands Dave and Ned; brother Robert; sister Marlene Payne; sisters-in-law Marguerite Rollins and Mary Ardith Claussen; and brothers-in-law Harold Payne, Kenneth Claussen and Bernard, Jerome and Kevin Toomey.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Friday, Jan. 16, 2026, at Our Lady Queen of Peace Catholic Church, 401 S. Owen Dr., Madison, Wis. Visitation will take place from 9:30 a.m. until the time of service. Interment of ashes will be at a later date at St. Joseph’s Paint Rock Cemetery, Harpers Ferry, Iowa. 

The service will be live-streamed. Live Stream

The family thanks the caring staff at Agrace Hospice and BrightStar Care, especially her dear Ashley. Memorial donations may be made to the Harpers Ferry Area Heritage Society, PO Box 224, Harpers Ferry, IA 52146. 

Please share your memories of Dolores by posting here in her guestbook.

Cress Funeral & Cremation Service

3610 Speedway Road Madison

(608) 238-3434