Lisa Soukup (1981-2022)
Lisa Soukup would rather you remember her as someone who adored Mister Rogers, Doctor Who, llamas, Marvel superheroes, her family, friends and co-workers than a woman who went 1-1 in a battle with breast cancer.
Lisa Soukup, 41, died Nov. 19, 2022, at her home in Lyndon, Kan.
Lisa was born June 3, 1981, in Topeka to Karl and Mary (Sorrels) Glatt. She graduated from Marais des Cygne Valley High School in 1999, Butler County Community College in 2001 and Wichita State University in 2003 with a degree in strategic communications.
Lisa married Tim Soukup on Aug. 4, 2001. They have a daughter, Meredith, who provided them with more than enough challenges and joys.
After working in various business training positions for 14 years, she was hired in 2018 for the job that gave her the greatest joy, as administrative assistant for the communications department of the Great Plains Conference of the United Methodist Church.
She not only tackled the arduous task of producing the conference journal, a 600-page behemoth required by the denomination, but took on other projects of her own, including a daily devotional emailed to 3,000 clergy, laity and conference staff. It was there she furthered her own love of writing, becoming a frequent contributor and leading to her own personal blog, Butterflies on a Cowpie.
Co-workers found her to be a constant encourager, a positive force and an excellent listener.
In July 2019, Lisa was diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer, despite no family history nor reason why it may have happened. After 20 weeks of chemotherapy, two blood transfusions, a double mastectomy, immunotherapy she had completed her treatment.
By January 2022, she had developed headaches that she later found were caused by lesions on the brain, consistent with cancer metastasis. Her final year was filled with once-in-a-lifetime experiences, including fulfilling a childhood dream of a trip to Ireland and Scotland with her family, the Bahamas, Las Vegas and her beloved Colorado Rockies.
A lifelong United Methodist, Lisa was active in the Lyndon UMC and volunteered for five years as staff coordinator for UM Youth Institute at Baker University.
Lisa spoke of her beliefs in one of her blog posts: “My faith has been a cornerstone in my life, and while there are times when I have been close to and far from the ‘church’ I’ve never felt abandoned or forgotten by God. We’ve had times that we don’t see eye-to-eye or I don’t understand what the bigger plan is but my faith in God has never been in doubt and that is still true today.”
In one of the daily devotions Lisa wrote for the conference: “The Great Physician is one of the names used for God and I do believe that He truly can heal all. I’ve heard and witnessed miraculous stories of people so very sick they shouldn’t be alive today, let alone achieving the heights they are. But that isn’t everyone’s experience. I struggle with the phrasing ‘lost or won the battle.’ It’s not that the people lay down the tools and just stop getting treatment are weaklings or losers. Their body is just telling them it’s time to stop. It’s time to go home.”
Lisa was preceded in death by her father and grandparents.
Survivors include her husband, Tim, and daughter, Meredith; mother, Mary Brooks and husband Don, Lyndon; sisters, Laura Baker (Jon) and Alicia Greisen (Jason), father-in-law and mother-in-law Robert and Myrene Soukup, Wilson Kan.; siblings-in-law Jeffery Soukup and family, Ruskin, Fla., Andrew Soukup and family, Newburg, Ind., Jennifer Stukey and family, Waverly, Kan., Debra Carlin and family, Osborne, Kan.
A Celebration of Life for Lisa will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 26 at the Lyndon United Methodist Church. The family will receive friends from 6:30-8 p.m. on Friday at the church.
Memorial contributions for Lisa may be made to the Lyndon United Methodist Church, Great Plains Conference or the Healing Chair, sent in care of Feltner Funeral Home, 818 Topeka Avenue, Lyndon, KS. 66451. Online condolences for the family may be left at feltnerfuneralhome.com.