Margaret M. Schad, 81, Madison, a former Stevens Point resident and the first female Portage County Board of Supervisors member, died Monday, Nov. 12, 2012, at the University of Wisconsin (UW) Hospital in Madison.
A memorial service will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 17, at Memorial United Church of Christ in Fitchburg.
Visitation will be at the church from 9 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 17, until the service.
Donations in her name may be made to the Wisconsin Ice Age Park and Trail Foundation or Wisconsin Public Radio.
Gunderson Fitchburg Funeral & Cremation Care of Fitchburg assisted the family with arrangements. Condolences may be offered online at www.gundersonfh.com.
Mrs. Schad was born in Sparta, a daughter of the late Robert and Alberta (Isensee) McCoy. She graduated from Sparta High School at age 16 and from UW-La Crosse with a teaching degree at age 20.
She taught English and Spanish at high schools in Viroqua, Plymouth and Wisconsin Rapids.
She was married to James E. Schad on June 7, 1958.
They moved to Stevens Point in 1965, living here until moving to the Madison area in 2010.
She held leadership roles in the Stevens Point League of Women Voters and the Stevens Point Park and Recreation Commission. In 1975, she became the first woman to serve on the Portage County Board of Supervisors when she was appointed to fill a vacancy in the city’s 12th ward. She was re-elected in 1976 and 1978. She represented the county’s 19th district (village of Plover) on the Board of Supervisors from 1982 until 1988. During her 11-year tenure on the Board, she served on almost every committee and chaired many.
After leaving the Board, she served on the Portage County Condemnation Commission, the Board of Directors for the Wisconsin Ice Age Trail, the Northern Area Agency on Aging and as a poll worker on election day.
Survivors include her husband; one daughter, Susan (Greg), West Des Moines, Iowa; one son, Jay (Celia), Fitchburg; two sisters, Mary Kennedy, Phoenix, Ariz., and Katherine (Richard) Steel, Libertyville, Ill.; one brother, Alan McCoy, Sparta; and four grandchildren.
She was also preceded in death by two brothers, Robert McCoy and Stuart (Shirley) McCoy.
