Milwaukee, WI
Writer Elaine Schmidt was an evangelist for music in Milwaukee
An elbow injury disrupted the career that Elaine Schmidt might have had as a high-level flutist. Undaunted, Schmidt channeled her mellifluousness into writing about music.
For more than three decades, Schmidt wrote about classical music and the performing arts for Milwaukeeans in many contexts: freelance reviews for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, scripts for Milwaukee Public Television broadcasts, books for Hal Leonard and, in recent years, program notes for the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra.
Schmidt died Dec. 19 after a short illness, according to her family. She was 66. Her death caught many who knew her here by surprise.
“Her passing is a loss for me personally, yes, and I’m heartbroken,” wrote MSO Communications Director Erin Kogler in a Facebook post. “But more important than my personal sadness, the arts community in Milwaukee needs people like Elaine — arts evangelists. People who truly understand how important the arts are in a community and will use whatever wonderful talent they have to keep the arts strong and thriving. Fellow Milwaukee arts lovers, we all have some big shoes to fill.”
Born June 18, 1958, Schmidt was raised in Milwaukee and graduated from Milwaukee Lutheran High School in 1976. After earlier study at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music and Concordia University, Schmidt moved to New York to study flute and voice at The Julliard School, according to an obituary prepared by her friend Karen Herzog, a former Journal Sentinel reporter.
Schmidt worked as a musician and singer in New York until her elbow injury. She then earned a master’s degree in music criticism from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
Returning to Milwaukee in 1993, she plunged into life as a freelancer or, as she wryly put it, “a gig pig,” teaching flute and voice and also writing for many customers. Her first review for the Milwaukee Sentinel, of a Master Singers Quartet concert, was published on Aug. 16, 1993. Her final review for the Journal Sentinel, of Florentine Opera’s “Maria de Buenos Aires,” was posted nearly 31 years later, on May 17, 2024.
Full disclosure: For many of those years, I was Schmidt’s assigning editor at the Journal Sentinel, commissioning and editing her reviews and articles. During hundreds of phone conversations (rarely short ones, because she liked to gab), I heard Elaine’s warm, cultured voice, often tinged with mock seriousness before unleashing a joke that could lead to boisterous laughter.
On her LinkedIn page, the proudly erudite and eclectic Schmidt wrote: “I am frighteningly well-versed in the trivial and arcane.” Here’s one example: She did a spot-on hilarious imitation of the nasal voice of Fran Drescher (star of “The Nanny”).
Schmidt revealed another facet of her creativity in 2013 when she published “The Travelers: Present in the Past,” a time-travel novel for young readers in which touching an antique quilt sent someone back in time. She followed that up a year later with “The Travelers Companion: Sharing Timeless Handwork Projects With a New Generation,” a guidebook in which she shared her passion for quilting.
Schmidt, who lived in Grafton, is survived by her husband, Mark Hoelscher; her sister Paula Schmidt, and her cat, Junior. Her family plans a celebration of her life in the spring. Memorials can be made to Lutheran Counseling and Family Services of Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music.
Fire near Finlayson and Locust
MILWAUKEE – Milwaukee firefighters were called to a vacant house in the city’s Harambee neighborhood early Tuesday morning, March 18.
What we know:
It happened around 4:40 a.m. near Dr. William Finlayson Street and Locust Street. Firefighters arrived to find smoke coming from the second floor of the two-and-a-half-story house, which had been boarded up. There was fire on all floors.
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MFD said firefighters checked all floors of the house for occupants multiple times. No one was found, and no injuries were reported.
What we don’t know:
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
The Source: Information in this report is from the Milwaukee Fire Department.
MILWAUKEE — Happy St. Patrick’s Day! There weren’t many places in Milwaukee as festive and spirited as the Irish inn and pub, County Clare.
The hotel and restaurant’s party started on Saturday and continued through Monday. On St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, eight Irish-themed bands were playing from 10 am to 10 pm.
Throughout the three-day party, more than a dozen different bands performed. There was a $5 cover charge; however, all the proceeds were donated to various charities. On Sunday, there was a ‘Brave the Shave’ event for people to shave their heads for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation which helps fund research to end pediatric cancer.
The County Clare was designed to model a classic inn and pub in Ireland.
Watch the interviews below to see all the Irish fun at the County Clare on St. Patrick’s Day.
Big St. Patrick’s Day celebrations at the County Clare in Milwaukee
Huge lines to get into County Clare’s St. Patrick’s Day festivities
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MILWAUKEE – A Milwaukee mother of four is dead after a shooting on Sunday, March 16.
What we know:
33-year-old Brenisha Butcher was shot around 1:40 a.m. on Sunday morning, near 107th and Granville. Family members say it happened outside of Bar 107 Sports Bar and Grill.
Loved ones say Butcher was a loving, outgoing person who was taken too soon. Now they want the person responsible for taking her life to turn themselves in.
Brenisha’s family say she was at the bar and was trying to leave, but was shot in her car outside. The investigation is ongoing.
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Officers say a 30-year-old was also shot and taken to the hospital. Loved ones say the second woman shot was her younger sister Brittney.
Her family said the two were unproblematic and the shooting didn’t make sense.
Butcher was a mother of four who owned a day care business. Family said the 33-year-old was always smiling and loved to dance.
What they’re saying:
“I’m numb, can’t stop crying,” said her cousin, Mrs. Jones. “I just miss my little cousin, she didn’t deserve this, not at all. We don’t understand it. It’s really hard and it’s real difficult.”
“Just enjoying herself and being a beautiful-hearted person and for someone just to kill my little cousin, it’s just real sad and we need justice,” Mrs. Jones said. “We’re going through it and it’s hard not knowing who did it, so if you know you did it, turn yourself in.”
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Butcher’s death has touched people in the community.
Some left flowers and a card at the shooting site and others asked for change.
“I’m truly concerned about where we go from here,” said Travis Clark, who lives in the area.
What you can do:
Anyone with any information is asked to contact the MPD at 414-935-7360 or to remain anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers at 414-224-TIPS or use the P3 Tips app.
The Source: The Milwaukee Police Department and Brenisha Butcher’s family contributed to this report.
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