Joan Rappert Schatz

Joan Rappert Schatz died February 5, 2015. She was a journalist, community volunteer and the wife of John F. Schatz, retired partner of the former Clifton Gunderson & Co. CPAs.Joan was bom to Sara J. DeNoble and Walter V. Rappert on May 2, 1930 in Menasha.She was a graduate of Saint Mary High School, Menasha and Marquette University,Milwaukee, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism in 1952. Her affiliationsat Marquette included membership in Theta Phi Alpha, national Catholic sorority andTheta Sigma Phi, national Journalism fraternity. During college vacations, Joan was areporter at the former Menasha Record and the Neenah Twin City News-Record. Shewas also a Milwaukee (Journal) Sentinel correspondent. After graduation, she was onthe editorial staff of the Catholic Herald (Citizen), Milwaukee for several years and later continued to be a free-lance writer.Marriage to John F. Schatz came on October 2, 1954 at St. Mary Catholic Church inMenasha. A year later, they moved from Milwaukee to Oshkosh, where John joined an accounting firm and where they raised their three children. They lived all their married life in Oshkosh except for nine years in the village of Butte des Morts with membership there at St. Mary Catholic church, Winneconne. Upon their return to Oshkosh in 1987, they joined St. Josaphat parish, now Most Blessed Sacrament parish. In her early years Joan was the first chair clarinetist of St. Mary High band for four years and a state-awarded choral sextet member. Later she was active in music parents' groups and fund-raising events at the former Sacred Heart parish and Lourdes High School in Oshkosh. She was a volunteer at the Oshkosh Public Library, the UW-Oshkosh Archeology Department and Mercy Medical Center Hospice. A founder of the Oshkosh Edgewater Social Club, she also belonged to the Winnebago County Historical and Archeological Society, several golf leagues and the Circus Fans of America. She was a 45-year member of a beloved couples' bridge club. Traveling to the Far East, South Pacific and Israel were her favorite adventures. She enjoyed reading biographies, solving word/number puzzles, collecting knight and clownmemorabilia and wintering in southern states. Joan attended many Elderhostel programs nationwide and also the Learning in Retirement courses at UW-Oshkosh.Surviving are her husband John and three children, Thomas Schatz, Mary (Thomas)Hoffman and Susan (Dr. Joseph) Kemp. Also surviving are six grandchildren, TimSchatz, David Hoffman, Ana Hoffman, Kathryn (Robert) Tank, Brian Kemp and AmyKemp.A Mass of Christian burial at Most Blessed Sacrament Parish is being celebrated for the family followed by interment at Calvary Catholic Cemetery. Konrad-Behlman Funeral Home is assisting the family. Memorials are appreciated to the John Schatz Scholarship Fund of Lourdes High School at the Oshkosh Community Foundation or to Mercy Medical Center Foundation.