Lori lived life on her own terms. She loved to connect with people, sharing her enthusiasm for rare plants, for music, for books, for exercise, and especially for dogs.

Lori was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba to Rosella (neé Braun) and Herman Schroeder, and grew up in Barrhaven and a farm near Almonte, Ontario. After high school, she moved to Montreal and studied children’s literature at McGill. This background stood her in good stead working at the Whitehorse public library, and also when she chose always the perfect books as gifts for friends and family.

Lori came to the Yukon in 1989, and here she found a land where she felt at home. She loved traveling throughout the Yukon, and worked in various parks (including several summers at the interpretive centre at Tombstone) and with governments and non-profit organizations, while also freelancing as an environmental consultant. Lori enjoyed learning to play the cello, was part of the Whitehorse Community Choir, and sang loud and danced hard at parties and music festivals throughout the Yukon.

In 2012, Lori moved to Edmonton to pursue a master of science in conservation biology at the University of Alberta. Over her years in Edmonton, she made many friends and was able to reconnect with the Prairies while still maintaining her ties with the Yukon through frequent visits and her thesis and contract fieldwork. Lori moved back to Whitehorse in the midst of the covid pandemic, and had been so happy to be reconnecting with friends, settling into her house, and renewing her garden. Lori was a vibrant force who followed her passions. Those who love her can find comfort knowing that she died doing what she loved, sharing her love of plants, in the field.

Lori touched so many lives and will be sorely missed by many circles of friends and family. She is mourned especially by her parents, Herman and Rosella Schroeder, extended family in Manitoba, dear friends in the Yukon, Alberta, and around the world, and by all the littles over the years who called her “Auntie Lori.” In memory of Lori, please share a hug with someone you love, strike up a conversation with a stranger, sing and dance with all your heart, admire a wild plant, go for a ski or a bike ride, let your heart lift at the sight of a beautiful mountain.

If you wish to make a donation in her memory, please donate to the Yukon Foundation General Fund. Celebrations of life in the Yukon and Manitoba will be planned towards the end of the summer.