When I started in the old Courthouse as McHenry County Treasurer in 1966, I sometimes had questions that involved the County Clerk’s Office.

I soon discovered that the young woman named Kathie Schultz would have the answer.

She had been hired right out of high school and had been in the office for about six years when I got there.

When Vernon Kays retired, she because Chief Deputy Clerk under Rosemary Azzaro, starting in 1978.

And, when Azzaro retired in 1990, Schultz was elected County Clerk, where she served until she retired in 2014.

Her husband Don died in 2011 after fifty-one years of marriage.

In 2013, she married the former CEO of Centegra, Paul Laudick.

McHenry County Blog broke the story.

The next year Schultz retired.

Kathie loved jewelry.

The estate jewelry Studio 2015 was a favorite destination.

Kathie and I had something in common. We both lost daughters. Hers was murdered; mine kidnapped.

When the Northwest Herald sued me for writing that the company had received a low interest loan from the County to build their new office building (my father, who was on the County Board told me about it over the kitchen table), she helped me find the documentation in her office records.

And, unlike her successor, Kathie allowed people to take pictures in her office.

Former McHenry County Auditor and State Senator Jack Schaffer remembered,

I first meet Kathie in 1968  when I  was elected county auditor .

She was very helpful to a new, green as grass, auditor. 

We became  good friends for life. 

She when on to become one of the most  honest  and dedicated in the history of our  county.

Her obituary follows:

Katherine C Schultz

1941 – 2021, Woodstock

Katherine C. Schultz, age 79, of Woodstock, passed away Friday March 12, 2021 at JourneyCare Hospice Inpatient Unit in Barrington.

She was born in Woodstock on October 5, 1941 to Emery and Glenna (Francisco) Cross. She married Donald Schultz on June 18, 1960, he passed away on May 2, 2011. She then married Paul Laudick on November 8, 2013.

She began her career at the McHenry County Court House on October 16, 1959 at the County Clerk’s Office. She was first elected as County Clerk on December 1, 1990 and continued serving until her retirement on November 29, 2014. She was the only county employee to serve for over 50 years and was recognized for her achievement by the Illinois General Assembly. In the resolution it stated, “Katherine Schultz has been responsible for many acts that have improved the transparency, efficiency, and integrity of McHenry County elections.”  Under her leadership McHenry County was the first large county to use “optical scanning voting machines” the Illinois House of Representatives recognized her research and implementation of the voting machines. In 2011 the Illinois Association of County Clerks and Recorders named her the “County Clerk of the Year”. She served on many committees and was proud of bringing electronic voting to the County. She loved bowling and golf and was an avid reader. She loved to travel, she visited all states except Hawaii, Washington and Oregon. She was loved and will be missed.

She is survived by her husband Paul; a son Timothy (Tammy) Schultz; two grandchildren Bobbi Sennett and Katherine Paige Schultz; brother Glenn (Sharon) Cross; and two sisters Dodie Streit and Peggy (Dale) Joosten; also, by multiple step children and step grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband Donald; two brothers Emery and Rick Cross; a daughter Cynthia Swan; and a granddaughter Tonya Guercio.

Services will be private.