One of Woodridge's First Residents Dies at 84

Louise Schneider liked to point out to Joel Kagann that she had been in Woodridge longer than he had.

Kagann, Woodridge's first police chief and former mayor of Woodridge, came to the village in 1962. Schneider moved to Woodridge in 1959 and was one of the village's first founding families.

Schneider died on March 15 at the age of 84.

She was born on May 13, 1926, in Neuenhain, Germany. She married Frank Schneider, whom she met during World War II while U.S. troops were occupying Germany. According to an obituary printed in the Chicago Tribune, Frank Schneider was a member of the 82nd Air Borne Division of the U.S. Army at the time.

The pair moved to the United States after the war and found their way to Woodridge, probably because the community offered "decent homes for a decent price," Kagann said.

They had four children: Angela, Frank, Yvonne and Elke. Schneider had four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren at the time of her death. She also worked as a nurse at Edwards Hospital in Naperville.

As an American citizen, Louise Schneider never lost pride in her heritage.

Mayor William F. Murphy said that when he first ran for mayor, Schneider posted a sign supporting him in her front yard. Murphy couldn't read it, though, because it was in German.

"She was very proud of being an American citizen," Murphy said. "She was also very proud of her heritage as a German."

At Woodridge's 50th anniversary celebration, one of the things Schneider put in village's time capsule was a Nazi party card.

"And all of a sudden I thought to myself, 'My God, you want everyone to know you were a Hitler youth?" Kagann said. "Every kid in Germany was a Hitler youth at that time. It was just so many years later that she comes up with this card. Somebody's going to be surprised when they open it up 20 years from now."

Schneider and her husband, Frank, stayed in Woodridge for the rest of their lives. Frank Schneider died in 1984.

She took pride in being own of Woodridge's first residents.

"At various town meetings and stuff like that, she would always get up and describe herself as one of the original residents in Woodridge," Kagann said.

Murphy said he believed the Schneiders never left Woodridge because it was their home.

"She and her husband bought a home in Woodridge and never wanted to leave," Murphy said.

Both Kagann and Murphy said she continued to be involved in the community throughout her life and wasn't afraid to voice her opinions.

"She was a regular attendee at village events and meetings, whether at the town meetings, in neighborhood dialogue or at community celebrations and events," Murphy said.

"She was someone who was never shy about expressing her ideas and opinions in how to make Woodridge a better community. She was not someone who lived in Woodridge. She contributed in making Woodridge the kind of community it is today."

One of her local accomplishments: Schneider was "very instrumental" in turning Greene's Farm on Hobson Road into a visitors center, Kagann said.

"She planned a lot of landscaping around the farmhouse and around the barn."

Murphy said only about a dozen of Woodridge's first residents were alive for the village's 50th anniversary in 2009. That number is probably fewer now, he said.