Leonore (Lee) Elisabeth Schoop Etherson, March 1, 1938, died August 22. 2023 at 85

Born in Zug, Switzerland, March 1, 1938. She loved playing in the fields, walking the hills and skiing the mountains of Switzerland. Later, she moved to Basel, Switzerland, where Lee studied and worked as a pharmacy tech. On holiday with her mother in Spain, 1961, she met Jerry, the love of her life, at a wine tasting and apparently, they talked until dawn.  They would correspond for 2 years, and later marry on March 26, 1963.  Lee left her beloved Switzerland to take a leap of faith and crossed the big ocean to follow her U. S. Air Force husband around the world…New York, Minnesota, Texas, Japan, and Florida. Jerry retired from the Air Force, and they made Panama City their home where Jerry started a successful life insurance company.  Sadly, Lee would unexpectedly lose her very young husband (45).  Being the strong woman that she was, she earned her Life Underwriter Certificate and took over the insurance business for the next several years.  Deciding she wanted more, as she was truly a helper by nature, she went to nursing school and became an LPN for her remaining working years, retiring at 75 not because she wanted to, but really her body couldn't keep up.

Prior to taking over Jerry's insurance business, Lee was a very active stay at home mom. Volunteering for Pink Ladies of Bay Medical, Junior Museum as their treasurer, Harvest Day Chair, and Gulf Coast Woman's Club International Committee. She also enjoyed walking the beaches, gardening, swimming, even participating in a triathlon relay team, and most of all her grandchildren.

She is preceded in death by her husband, Jerome (Jerry) Etherson and her parents Robert Jacques Shoop and Helene Elisabeth (Marguerite) Keller Schoop. She is survived by her loving family; Regina (Rae) Etherson Cotton (Allen); Christina Michelle Boe (Scott), four grandchildren that she adored, Cady Boe, Abby Boe, Christina Cotton and her favorite grandson, Philip Cotton, her brother Roland Schoop (Switzerland) and some very dear life-long friends and your Hurricane Michael rescue dog Pepper.

Lee's health declined over the last years, dying of natural causes at home, and we know she is feeling better now. She will be re-united with her loving husband at Evergreen Memorial Gardens.

The family will have a celebration of Life at First United Methodist Church on Sunday, August 27, 2023, at 4pm all friends and family are welcome.  In lieu of flower, the family asks for donations to either the Panama City Women's Club or the American Heart Association.