Letha Lydia Schramm

December 11, 1947 - September 12, 2018

It is with a conflicted sorrow that Letha Lydia (Gillespie) Schramm’s family announces that on 9/12/2018, Lydia escaped the pain of her cancer, leaving a great hole in the family. She fought bravely and strongly to heal and continue her third bout with cancer; cancer won. Lydia was born on December 11, 1947 in Highland, Illinois to her parents: Noah William Gillespie and Letha Lydia (Barnes) Gillespie. She grew up in Pocahontas, Illinois. She received a Bachelor degree from Illinois State University, in Normal, Illinois in 1970. In 1987, following 3 years of study, she received a certificate in Radiography from the Bloomington/Normal School of Radiography. She worked for several years at Admiral Corporation in Bloomington, Illinois. Starting as a line worker she became a manager. This was interrupted by her radiography study. After graduation she worked as a radiography technologist at Newberg hospital transitioning to Providence Newberg hospital from 1987 until she retired in 2013. She is survived by her husband Larry Edward Schramm, and by her daughters Beth Ellen Waller, Lydia Marie Schramm (David Rightmire), her brother Gary Gillespie and her sister Linda Capello as well as by 3 grandchildren: Nicholas, James, and Ella, and two great grandchildren Zoey and Juno. Enjoying the out of doors, arts and crafts, and the love of her family, hers was the rich life of a capable, courageous, and honest person. She is deeply loved and will be sorely missed. Memorial services are tentatively planned both here and in her ancestral home in October. Should people wish to honor her memory with financial donation, they may donate to the life affirming and progressive cause of their choice, a donation to an organization that is working with cancer research seems particularly apt.