Phyllis Marie Schroeder Lutwack, 97, died February 9, 2018 at 7:50 AM at Bickford Assisted Living in Burlington.
LUTWACKShe was born April 11, 1920 to J. Robert Schroeder, Sr. and Gertrude Boddeker Schroeder in Fort Madison, Iowa. On June 17, 1939 at St. Joseph’s Rectory she married Wilton “Wil” J. Lutwack, a young Sheaffer Pen Company employee who had recently graduated from the University of Iowa School of Journalism. He died September 21, 1988. Shortly after they married, she and Wil moved to Chicago where they owned and operated a nightclub photography business, and then to New York State, including the cities of Syracuse, Rochester and finally Grand Island, near Buffalo. For nearly 30 years she and her husband owned and operated COLAD Company which produced laminated book covers and folders for high schools, colleges and universities around the world. When she was 83, she bought and renovated a circa 1840 house in Fort Madison as a second home.
Phyllis was an avid tennis player and pianist and enjoyed downhill skiing, opera, learning and speaking Italian, knitting, collecting modern art, traveling the world, and cooking gourmet meals and “diner” dinners to entertain her wide circle of friends and family. She and Wil made sure that her family members were exposed to other cultures and art through education.
Following her husband’s death, she lived in Buffalo, New York until 2016 when she moved to the Bickford Assisted Living Center in Burlington, Iowa.
Mrs. Lutwack is survived by two sisters, Patricia Schroeder Kious and Carol Schroeder Foss, 12 nieces and nephews, Pamela Robinson (Jack) Waterman, Becky Schroeder (Charlie) Rump, Jennifer Foss (Steve) Cordova, Holly Kious (Mick) Ritter, Jill Kious (Tim) Houston, Kathryn Foss (Mike) Brown, Dr. Andrew (Susan) Kious, Jeffrey (Sheila) Foss, Peggy (Heather) Foss, Sarah Foss (David) Bonazza and Christopher (Ellen) Foss; and numerous great and great-great nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her husband, parents, grandparents and niece, Valerie Robinson and nephew, Rudy Robinson, Jr.; a sister, Janice Schroeder Robinson and a brother, J. Robert Schroeder Jr.
Per her wishes, cremation has been entrusted to King-Lynk Funeral Home & Crematory. Mrs. Lutwack will be buried with her husband at Claypoole Cemetery near Wever following a private service to be held at a later date.
Her obituary can be viewed and online condolences left at www.kinglynk.com. A memorial has been established for the Burchfield-Penney Art Gallery in Buffalo, New York.
