Laura Jean Strapp

Laura Jean Strapp, 70, passed away on Friday, December 13, 2013 in Houston. She was born on February 7, 1943, in Biloxi Mississippi, where her father was stationed with the Army Air Corps. Laura, whose childhood nickname was “Midge,” grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, lived in several mid-west states, and then fulfilled a longtime dream of moving to Texas in 1977. She was one of the earliest settlers in The Woodlands.

Laura graduated from Mount Mary College, in Milwaukee in 1964 with a home economics degree. She was an educator her entire life. She started as a science teacher, and then taught cooking and sewing as a home ec teacher for almost 20 years. She then became the director of a program for teen mothers at Spring ISD, where she taught parenting skills to young mothers and ran an in-school daycare to care for the babies while their mothers attended high-school classes. Laura then worked as a high school counselor at Tomball High School until the time she was forced to retire due to Pulmonary Hypertension. Laura had master’s degrees in counseling and also in nutrition, and while those degrees helped her in her job, it was her love, compassion, empathy, and understanding that helped her touch so many lives. After having a double-lung transplant in 2003, Laura‘s pulmonary hypertension was cured but her battle with post-transplant health issues began. Laura was a founding member of Sts. Simon and Jude Catholic Church and volunteered as a wedding coordinator for 10 years. After moving and becoming a member at St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church, she joined the Cornerstone Bible study for 5 years and this past year volunteered for the Cornerstone core team. She also volunteered with the Pulmonary Hypertension Association to help raise money and find a cure for the disease with which she was afflicted. She was active with the golf tournament fund raiser and then later with the Chamber of Commerce sponsored PHA CrawPhish festival.

Laura is survived by her daughter, Judi, her son, Glenn, her daughter-in-law, Ellen, and her grandchildren Cameron (9), Rachel (9), Lauren (6), and Meghan (22 months). Her children and grandchildren loved her with all their hearts and will miss her dearly. She was a wonderful role model, a joy to be around and a dear friend to many who will also miss her.

A rosary service for Laura will be held at Forest Park The Woodlands on December 18, 2013 at 5:00 pm and her family will be receiving visitors until 8:00 pm that evening. The funeral mass will be held at St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church on December 19, 2013 at 11:00 am.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the Pulmonary Hypertension Association (“PHA”). Donor information is available at http://www.phassociation.org/.