When a hospital co-worker needed help with a college math course, Florence T. Schultz was there for her, giving her short quizzes during breaks and tutoring her on weekends.
“In so many ways, she was like a mother to me,” said Karen Bronke, a medical processor at Edward Hospital in Naperville. “Flo was one of the warmest, nicest people I’ve ever known. She was someone who just by her presence made you feel like everything was going to be all right.”
Mrs. Schultz, 53, a former medical technician at Edward Hospital, died Tuesday, Feb. 3, in her Naperville home of pancreatic cancer.
“I’ve always felt that Flo was wise beyond her years, the kind of person who knew how to handle any situation or problem,” said her husband of 31 years, Ted.
“She had a quiet confidence that drew people to her, but it was her warmth and loving nature that made them want to be her friend.”
Mrs. Schultz was born in Suffolk, Va. Her family moved to New Jersey when she was 6. She received a bachelor’s degree in science from Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Conn., in 1972. That same year she married her husband, Ted, and the couple moved to Chicago, where for two years she was employed as a medical technician at the University of Chicago Hospitals.
While raising her children, Mrs. Schultz worked part time in several doctors’ offices in the west suburbs. She then took an entry-level job at Richard Morton Co., a Lisle software sales company, where she was promoted to director of marketing.
“With no marketing background and no business experience to speak of, she worked her way up to a position of some real responsibility within that company,” said her husband.
Mrs. Schultz had been working in Edward’s medical technology department since 2001, prior to her retirement in June when she was diagnosed as having cancer.
During that time, colleagues said she streamlined department procedures and increased efficiency with flow charts and statistical research.
“She was the go-to person in our department,” said co-worker Sue Voss. “She could explain anything, and what she didn’t have an answer for immediately, she’d go research and get back to you right away.”
Other survivors include two sons, Thomas and Taylor; a daughter, Lisa Swatland; her father, George Taylor; a brother, Charles Taylor; a sister, Anne Steinbrenner; and a granddaughter.
Services were held.
