Elizabeth Schoenecker

On May 1, 2024, Elizabeth Schoenecker, peacefully passed away at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore with her husband, Lee, and two sons, Steven and John, at her side. She also had five grandchildren.

Elizabeth, or “Liz,” Schoenecker was born November 9, 1945 and raised in Neenah, Wisconsin. She has an undergraduate major in economics from Marquette University and a graduate degree in the Foreign Service from Georgetown University. From 1966 to 1974 she worked as a housing economist with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban development. When her husband went to the State of Wisconsin on a federal employee exchange program, she was very active in the Madison League of Women Voters, including programs on the future of the Presidency.

In her return to Washington, she became heavily involved in an effort to secure one voting Congressman and two United States Senators for the District of Columbia under Article V of the Constitution. It passed the U.S. Congress, but failed to get the required three-fourths approval from the 50 states. During most of the 1980s she was involved in numerous civic affairs, including serving as President of the Lafayette Elementary School Home and School Association in northwest Washington, DC.

In the late 1980s she went to work for the U.S Agency for International Development (AID), focusing on family planning in developing countries. In that job, she served as a Division Chief for Policy, Evaluation, and Communication until retirement in 2012. In her 2012 retirement, she received the AID Administrators Distinguished Careers Service Award. In retirement she was appointed to the Board of the Population Reference Bureau, including serving as its Chair for two years.

A reception will be held at Joseph Gawler’s Sons Funeral Home, 5130 Wisconsin Avenue, NW, Washington, DC, 20016 from 6:00 to 8:00 PM on Monday, June 3. The funeral Mass will be held at Holy Trinity Catholic Church, in Georgetown, 3513 N Street NW Washington, DC 20007, starting at 10:30 AM on Tuesday, June 4, 2024.