Racine- With her loving family and special friend by her side, Lisa Gage (nee: Lutze), age 44, passed away early Wednesday morning, July 15, 2009 at her home. She fought a brave and determined 8 year battle against triple negative breast cancer. Left to comfort one another with Lisa’s memory are her children, Todd and Eric Gage; parents, Al and Sandy Lutze; sister, Laurie Nievin, and her son, Stewart; sister, Lynelle Saunders and her husband Chris and their children Alex and AJ; and Lisa’s special friend, Keith. Lisa’s memory will be cherished by her extended family members, family friends, girlfriends, and co-workers at Ruud Lighting. Lisa was preceded in death by her granddaughter, Anyiah Day-Gage. Lisa was born in Racine on September 7, 1964. She attended school in Racine where she was a lifetime resident. She was the Document Coordinator of Digital Publishing at Ruud Lighting where she had been employed for the last 14 years. Lisa was a devoted mother and treasured time spent with her family, especially her sisters; camping, game nights, attending school sporting events, scary movie nights and her dad’s popcorn. She loved being outdoors, planting flowers, feeding the birds, and fishing Up North. A very fashionable dresser, Lisa enjoyed shopping, home decorating, antiques, Packer games, “girl’s weekends”, margarita’s and Mexican food, Nickleback concerts, and time spent with good friends. She loved Christmas. Lisa will be forever remembered as a beautiful women with a warm smile, twinkling brown eyes, unassuming nature who in every day life showed a true spirit of love, integrity, dedication, strength and courage to all she encountered. In accordance with Lisa’s wishes, cremation will take place. A memorial service celebrating Lisa’s life will be held in the Draeger-Langendorf Funeral Home on Saturday, July 18, 2009 at 11 am with Rev. David F. Gehne officiating. A reception will follow. Visitation will be in the funeral home on Saturday from 9-11 am. In memory of Lisa, memorials to the “Love For Lisa” Benefit Acct. – c/o: Johnson Bank. The family wishes to extend a very special thank you to Dr. Mike Mullane and his incredible staff, Dr. Stauss, and staff at Advanced Pain Management and Lisa’s caring nurses, Barb Pressar and Mary Jensen. And, all of the amazing people at Ruud Lighting. To our many dear family members and friends who were always there for us during Lisa’s courageous fight, we wish God’s blessings to all of you.
Jenny Thielen says
Beautiful, brave and witty Lisa. I remember the day you came into my office and shared the frightening news. But in your face I saw not fear, not self-pity. I saw peace.
Your bravery made me brave to face my own life challenges, to laugh in the face of adversity. We rolled our eyes at motherhood, sisterhood, even wifehood.
How grateful we were to have a place to work where everything made sense and at the end of the work day we could say, Well Done.
So my sister-in-love, I say to you, “Well Done.” You’ve impressed on so many hearts your sweet countenance, your love, your laughter and your zest for life. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Jenny
Gianna O'Keefe says
Although I didn’t work with Lisa that long, I know how much she meant to everyone at Ruud Lighting. My thoughts and prayers are with the family.
Russ Schultz says
Words cannot describe how lucky we were at Ruud Lighting, to have Lisa in our lives. Her infamous smile was more than enough to brighten anyone’s day. We all very much admired Lisa, not just for her beauty inside & out, but how courageously she fought her battles. God has blessed us all with the wonderful life of Lisa. Lisa will always be missed, but never forgotten, as she’ll always be in our hearts!