Christine Marie Zapf, a shining star of energy and love, a loving wife, and a dear friend to so many, passed away August 24, 2026. She was 68.

Chris would often say, "We're not here for a long time; we're here for a good time," and she lived exactly that way. She drank deeply from the cup of life, embracing each day with music in her heart, the wind in her hair and a smile on her face.

She was born in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on April 7, 1958, the daughter of Matthew and Laurine Zapf. She spent her 20s on the move, traveling the world and throwing herself into environmental work, and both stayed with her for the rest of her life.

She brought all of that into her life with Steve Schutz, her husband, her life partner, and her best friend of 34 years. They made their home in New Berlin and Franklin, and he was her partner on the trails, at the campsites and on the dance floors. She loved her stepchildren and their spouses, Matthew (Elizabeth) Schutz and Jake (Jina Inn) Schutz, and she was the one who remembered what mattered to each of them and made sure the family stayed in each other's orbit.

Chris loved her family and friends fiercely. She made friends everywhere she went and then kept them, so her life filled up with whole circles of people organized around whatever she was doing: the ones she danced with, the ones she camped and biked and hiked with, the ones she traveled with, the ones she went to shows with, the ones she worked on causes with. She loved her Wild Outdoor Women of Wisconsin (WOWOW) girlfriends. She was the glowing star at the center of a large solar system, drawing people in and then holding onto them with attention: letters, journal entries, phone calls and newspaper clippings she cut out and mailed because she thought of you when she read them. A spicy margarita with a friend, an afternoon in a thrift store, a conversation struck up with a stranger who left as someone she knew. That was a good day.

She found her friends at work, too, which surprised no one. Chris trained as a court reporter and spent almost 40 years at it, serving in many court branches in Milwaukee County before retiring a few years ago. She took the work seriously and herself less so, which is why so many people in the courthouse looked forward to seeing her name on the calendar. Judges, attorneys, clerks, deputies, bailiffs and fellow reporters all became lifelong friends.

She was happiest in nature. Chris was an avid and accomplished cyclist, hiker, cross-country skier, backpacker and sea kayaker, and she would still rather sleep on the ground in a tent than almost anywhere else. She loved sunsets and birds and forests full of old trees. She loved wandering off to see what was over there. She wore a straw hat, she brought other people along and she had a gift for making an ordinary outing feel like an adventure.

If there was a band and a dance floor, Chris was there. She went to as many free outdoor shows as she could find, attended every day of Irish Fest, where she loved the storytellers as much as the music, drove all over Wisconsin for concerts and camped out at bluegrass festivals that ran for days. She almost never missed her favorite band, Paul Cebar and the Milwaukeeans. She loved Zydeco and Cajun music. She loved the accordion. She could dance to any music.

Chris developed multiple sclerosis in midlife and treated the diagnosis as a challenge rather than a verdict. It did not sideline her or diminish her life. What it did was give her one more cause, and she became a tireless supporter of MS research and rode in countless MS bike rides to fund it.

She wanted to leave the world better than she found it, and she did the unglamorous parts of that work. She was active in the Great Waters Group of the Sierra Club, Wisconsin's Green Fire, Wisconsin Conservation Voters, First Unitarian Society of Milwaukee, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, Schlitz Audubon and Franklin Dems. She showed up at protests, wrote letters to the editor, called her elected officials and gave what she could to the causes and candidates she believed in. She kept up on the news, she watched 60 Minutes and she had opinions worth listening to.

And she went everywhere. Alaska and Patagonia, New Zealand and Australia, Bali and Nepal, Belize, Costa Rica, Greece, Ireland, Nova Scotia, Kauai. She visited national parks regularly, from Yosemite and Glacier and the Grand Canyon to Isle Royale, the Apostle Islands and stretches of the Ice Age Trail close to home, with more state parks along the way than anyone kept count of. She rarely came back from anywhere without a plan for the next trip.

The family is grateful to the team at Froedtert Hospital for the skill and kindness they showed Chris, and for the care they extended to her family.

Chris is survived by her husband, Steve Schutz; her stepsons, Matthew (Elizabeth) Schutz and Jacob (Jina Inn) Schutz; her step grandson, Greyson Schutz; her brothers-in-law, Michael (Susan) Schutz and Jeffrey Schutz; her aunt, Kathy Klammer, cousin, Todd Klammer; and a great many friends. She was preceded in death by her father, Matthew Zapf; her mother, Laurine Zapf; and her brother, Anthony Zapf.

Memorial Service

A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday Oct. 17, 2026, at the First Unitarian Society of Milwaukee, 1342 N. Astor St. A reception will take place in the church afterwards.

Memorial Contributions

Chris encouraged that in lieu of flowers, any donations be made to the Great Waters Group of the Sierra Club, Wisconsin Conservation Voters, or the First Unitarian Society of Milwaukee.