Louise Marie Schneider passed away on November 8, 2019 at the Cottage in the Meadow Hospice Care Center with her daughter, Fran by her side. She was born on February 5, 1925 to Oliver and Frances Elliott in Seattle, WA.
Louise attended public schools in Seattle and graduated from Roosevelt High School and attended the University of Washington. During this time, she worked part time for her father’s law practice where she learned to manage the front office and do basic accounting.
On July 16, 1943 Louise married Lyle Schneider in a small Lutheran Church in Seattle, after Lyle was transferred to the Naval base at Port Orchard, WA after being hospitalized for injuries sustained in naval battles of the South Pacific. A marriage that lasted nearly 70 years and one that Louise would tell you ended too soon with the passing of Lyle on February 23, 2013.
Lyle and Louise moved to Auburn, WA in 1947 to practice law with his father in law, the firm of Elliott and Schneider. Louise was an important and integral part of Lyle’s law firm through the years and she retired when Lyle retired in 2005 with the firm name of Schneider, Gibson, and Jarvey. After retirement, Louise and Lyle moved to their ranch in the Wenas Valley north of Selah, WA which they had purchased in 1965.
Louise immersed herself in every aspect of a busy Schneider family life from helping Lyle in the management of a growing law firm to supporting her children in school, 4-H and church activities. All of this became more complicated when they purchased the ranch which required the caring for two homes and two businesses, the law firm in Auburn and farming on a large scale of hay and cattle on the Eastside.
Louise also cared deeply about the community of Auburn and especially for the well being of the downtown area and related small businesses. She applied her “can do” attitude with involvement in organizations, committees and events that all related to making her community a better place for family and small business. Examples of the above are her work for the Auburn Good Old Days celebrations, the Auburn Beautification Committee, Soroptimist International of Auburn, and as a long-time member of P.E.O, Chapter BH. Louise also served as a member for 12 years and was chairman for 2 years on the King County Board of Appeals and Equalization and was honored for this work in 1984. Her next adventure was to become a legislative secretary and lobbyist for the Washington Cattlemen’s Association which required many trips to Olympia over a period of several years.
Now a personal note from her eldest son, Eric Schneider. My mother, like many other mothers and grandmothers, was the core strength of our family and my father would often say to us, “behind every successful man is a good woman and I have one.” I think my father knew very well that he would have been lost without her! My mother was also a very good, self-taught architect with an ability to visualize changes required to remodel a building or for planning a new structure. And with this, she loved planning and doing projects. I called Mom the ultimate project lady and somehow, I was the chosen one for many of her plans to be completed. What Mom hadn’t done before, we learned together which meant sometimes due to our learning curve we had to re-do the work, i.e. our first attempt at concrete work! Lastly, as I stated before, she was a “can do” lady, her glass was always half full and she had a steadfast Christian faith. Mom would always give her children and grandchildren 110% of her effort to help us achieve our goals and dreams.
Louise is survived by her brother Oliver Elliott (Janet); her three children, Dr. Eric Schneider (Janet), Frances Schneider Feusner and Lyle Schneider Jr. (Theresa); nine grandchildren, Dr. Heather Schneider Cullom (Jonathan), Amber Schneider Duffy (Ryan), Karena Schneider vonDoehren (Brendan), John Wesley Feusner (Sarah), Jacob Feusner (Anna), Jenna Feusner Bissonette (Luke), Justin Schneider (Kendra), Sarah Schneider, and Joshua Schneider; and 13 greatgrandchildren; and one great, greatgrandchild.
Louise is preceded in death by her parents, Oliver and Frances Elliott; her husband, Lyle Schneider; her sister, Midge Riddle and her grandson, Lyle Schneider III.
Visitation will be held at Valley Hills Funeral Home in Yakima on Friday November 15th between 4 and 7pm. A graveside service for family and relatives will be held at the Wenas Cemetery on the North Wenas Road at 12:30pm on Saturday, November 16th. A memorial service will be held later the same day at Peace Lutheran Church in Selah, WA at 2:00pm followed by a reception at the church.
In memory of Louise, memorials may be given to Peace Lutheran Church in Selah, WA or a charity of your choice.
