Mary Lee Schroeder, aged 88, passed away on April 23, 2025 in Madison Wisconsin.
Mary Lee was born to Mollie Leet and Silas Jurgens in Clearbrook, Minnesota, and raised on the beautiful family farm homesteaded and built by her Danish grandpa Lauritz Peter Jurgens. She attended a one-room schoolhouse through 8th grade and graduated from Clearbrook High School as valedictorian. In her youth she won numerous awards, including the blue ribbon at the Minnesota State Fair for her original potato soup recipe, and a writing contest that resulted in her travelling to Minneapolis to interview Senator Hubert Humphrey during his campaign for the U.S. vice presidency.
She continued her education at the University of Minnesota, leaving months shy of completing a degree in Chemistry, as she met an extraordinary young architect while waiting tables and married him just 90 days later (after a number of dates including an early Bob Dylan concert at a St. Paul coffee house, and skinny-dip night swimming at a city park). Mary Lee and David first moved to Madison, WI, and then settled in Wausau, where they were both actively involved in Immanuel Lutheran Church. Mary Lee designed and created gorgeous banners for every ecclesiastical season; many are still in use to this day.
Mary Lee was unquestionably creative, intelligent, hardworking, kind and patient. She faced her challenges with incredible grace. While working full-time and raising 4 children as a young widow she returned to school, earned an undergraduate degree in Art Education, and started a career as a network administrator in 1984 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She moved to an earth-sheltered house on the near west side of Madison and welcomed all those who knocked on the door intrigued by the unique hobbit house. After retirement, she doted on her grandchildren, learned to speak and write Danish, and travelled to Denmark to meet a number of relatives in Kolding and visit Legoland in Billund. She volunteered with Madison Public Libraries, gardened, walked every day, and continued to make new friends in her neighborhood.
Mary Lee is survived by her children Sissel, Jurgen (Lauren), Petra (Michael Knox) and Mali (Sean Egan) and her three grandchildren, Gunnar Knox, Riley Schroeder and Rana Egan. She is also survived by her siblings JoAnn Rhen, Larry Jurgens and Steve Jurgens as well as beloved nieces, nephews and friends who admired her kind spirit. She was preceded in death by her adored and adoring husband, David Schroeder who was lost to cancer in 1973 and was missed every day of the past 52 years. Mary Lee will be missed with the same tenderness by her family.
We wish to thank the compassionate staff at Sun Prairie Senior Living for their care in the last week, and to the entire community at Renaissance of Hilldale, where she found friends and stellar support since 2022.
A memorial service will be held at Cress Funeral Service, 6021 University Avenue on Saturday, May 3rd. 11:00 visitation, noon service, followed by a catered lunch. Burial will be next to David in Manitowoc’s Evergreen Cemetery, where the family will continue a tradition of more than 50 years of annual Memorial Day visits.
Please share your memories at www.cressfuneralservice.com
Cress Center
6021 University Ave. Madison
(608) 238-8406
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