Donna Leola Schneider

She was born to parents Claude Harold Armstead and Iola Freida, nee Meredith, and was raised on a rural farm. She played clarinet while at Valley Falls High school, graduated in 1952, and went on to study at Kansas State University where she graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in English in 1956.

She met her spouse, John Arthur Lothman (1935-2008) while at college, married in September of 1956, and went on to have three sons, Paul, Carl, and Eric.

She was an outstanding and accomplished homemaker for many years. In the early years of raising her children, she was involved in all her sons’ activities, hosting Cub Scout meetings in her home and taking them back and forth to swimming lessons and sporting activities. She was a “block mother” in the neighborhood for the after-school kids. She volunteered extensively at their schools, even becoming mother of the year and President of the Parent Teachers Association. In her later years as a grandmother and Mother-in-Law, she continued to teach the family the joy and reward of cultivating a warm home, always ready to provide a meal and place for all to visit.

She was very active in the Scouting program, from her days as a Den Mother in Cub Scouts in the 1960s all the way to earning the distinguished Silver Beaver Award in 1980, the highest volunteer award given by the Boy Scouts.

She loved to create scrapbooks and collect and document her family’s life. She was organized and neat and kept meticulous records on nearly everything. These collections and scrapbooks are a historical treasure to the family, now more than ever. She loved to reach out to others by sending them cards and letters, teaching us to express appreciation through her practice of “Thank You” cards all her life.

She moved to Houston, Texas and later remarried Robert “Bob” Louis Schneider in 1973, who had three children from his deceased first wife, Lynn, Bill, and Carol.

She worked for American General for many years and then was at The Grand Parkway Association from 1996-2016 where she was an executive assistant under very supportive management, whom she loved very much.

She attended Christ the Servant Lutheran church and served faithfully for many years. She was very fond of Pastor Jim and the friends-in-Christ she came to know through the church.

She was predeceased by her parents, husband Bob (2005), sons Eric (2013) and Bill (2006), and brother Eugene (2021). She is survived by eldest son Paul and his wife Rebecca, son Carl, daughter-in-law Pam Ohnemus Lothman, daughter Lynn and her husband Mack Rhodes, and daughter Carol and her husband Mike Lee, brother Dean and his wife Janet Armstead, sister Sue and her husband Louie Mitchell, grandchildren Alice, Arthur, Allen and his wife Morgan, Arianna, Shawn, and Ryan Lothman, Tricia Malone, Jamie and her husband Eric Tripp, great grandchildren Max, Melody, Maverick, Addie, Anna, Peyton, Kaitlyn, and many loyal friends and extended family members.

In lieu of flowers, if you wish to make a donation in Donna’s name, please consider donating to the Boy Scouts of America or Christ the Servant Lutheran Church located at 2400 Wilcrest Dr. Houston, TX 77042.

Visitation with the family was held at 12:30 p.m. on Sunday, December 31, 2023 at Waltrip Funeral Directors, 1415 Campbell Road in Houston, Texas, where funeral services began at 2:30 p.m. with Pastor Jim Giannantonio, officiating.