Geraldine Louise Blankschein, 74, Mount Horeb, formerly of Stevens Point, died Friday, Aug. 3, 2012, at her home.
A celebration of life will be held from 4 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at the home of Doug and Meg Blankschein in Mount Horeb.
A service of remembrance will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday at Mount Horeb United Methodist Church, in Mount Horeb, with Rev. Cherie Forret officiating.
Visitation will be at the church from 10 a.m. Thursday until the service.
Memorial gifts will be given to those organizations which she supported.
Ellestad Camacho Funeral Home of Mount Horeb assisted the family with arrangements. Condolences may be offered online at www.ellestadfuneralhome.com.
Mrs. Blankschein was born Aug. 29, 1937, in Aurora, Ill., a daughter of the late Lloyd Wayne Smith and Alice Louise Kirchenbauer. She graduated from Naperville Community High School and in 1958 from the Chicago Wesley Memorial Hospital School of Nursing.
She worked as a nurse at Wisconsin Veterans Home in King for 13 years and spent the remainder of her nursing career inspecting nursing homes for the Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services, from which she retired after 29 years of service.
She was active in the nursing community, serving on the board of the Wisconsin Federation of Nurses and was appointed by Wisconsin Gov. Tony Earl to the Nursing Home Administrators Examining Board, serving two terms. She received a Governor’s Special Award in 1985 for her work on the Task Force of Comparable Worth, which led to equal pay for nurses in Wisconsin.
She was active in the United Methodist Church and many community activities. She volunteered for many organizations in support of women and children, mission trips and those areas of service that were dedicated to help improve the lives of others.
She spent the last 10 years aware she had Alzheimer’s, and volunteered to be part of a long-term Alzheimer’s study to try and help those in the future. She was a brain donor to Wisconsin Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center in Madison.
Survivors include three sons, Jeffrey (Jeannine), Stevens Point, Douglas (Meg), Mount Horeb, and Tedmund, Milwaukee; one sister, Betty Yohnka; two brothers, Roger (Dodie) Smith and Harold (Ginny) Smith; and four grandchildren.
