Willa Jean (Penka) Schulte

Jean Schulte died April 3, 2012 at The Bridge at Garden Plaza in Aurora, Colorado after a long illness.  Born Willa Jean Penka, she shared her birth with twin Wilbur Dean on January 15th, 1932  (an unusual occurrence for the day) to parents Luke and Agnes Penka.   Her early years were spent in the Larned, Zook and Radium areas.  After high school, she enrolled at St. Francis School of Nursing, Wichita.  Within a short time she joined the Dominican Sisters at Great Bend, where she finished her nurses training.  She served as surgical and/or ER nurse in hospitals in Great Bend, Garden City and Larned.  In 1966, she left the Dominicans and began a career in teaching.  She received her Masters Degree in Nursing from the University of Colorado in 1976.  Jean spent most of the rest of her career teaching nursing at St. Francis, Wichita, Pratt Community College, and finally Fort Hays Nursing Department, from which she retired.

In 1979 she married Ted Schulte with whom she shared more than 25 years, a good deal of travel, and much good cooking.  Ted passed away in 2007.  In 2011, Jean moved from Hays to Aurora, Colorado to be closer to family.  

Nursing was her life – not just to the public or her students.  To her family “Sis” was the first line of defense medicine-wise:  we always checked with her with any medical problem.   She and Ted moved to Larned to care for dad and mom during their last illnesses.   She is predeceased by her husband Ted and parents Luke and Agnes.  Survivors are brothers and their wives: Lucas Lee and Lenora, Lubbock, Texas; Wilbur Dean and Cecile, Redding, California; James and Karen, Aurora, Colorado;  and her sister Rozanne, Thornton, Colorado along with her loving nieces, nephews and their families.  She will be missed.

Funeral services will be at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, April 10, 2012 at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church, Hays.  Burial will be in the Larned City Cemetery, Larned, Kansas.  Friends may call from 5:00 until 7:00 pm on Monday and from 9:00 am until 9:45 Tuesday all at the Hays Memorial Chapel Funeral Home.  Condolences may be left for the family at www.haysmemorial.com