Charlotte “Pat” Esther (Erlandson) Schroeder, daughter of the former owners of the Lake Mills Leader, died on Oct. 5, at the age of 95.
Born in Elmhurst, Illinois, to Bill and Charlotte June Erlandson, her family moved to Lake Mills when she was 8 years old to run the newspaper. She was a 1946 graduate of Lake Mills High School and went on to earn her bachelor’s degree in journalism from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, and her master’s degree in social work from the University of Kentucky at Louisville.
During college, she worked at her parents’ newspaper. She then went on to become editor of the Madison-based Jackson Clinic’s Better Health Magazine and spent many years as a therapist with families and children at the Comprehensive Mental Health Services for Delaware County. She married John “Jack” Juergen Schroeder on June 7, 1953.
