This foundation was created in honor and remembrance of Shannon Marie (Porter) Smith, a wife, a mother, a daughter, a sister and a friend, who died tragically on August 22nd, 2018 along with her infant son Louis Porter Smith. 

Shannon was born and raised in Wausau, Wisconsin. She attended Trinity Lutheran grade school K-8 and graduated in 2006 from Wausau West High School where she was an honor student and lettered in basketball, volleyball and track.  She attended UW-Marathon County for two years where she was a member of the women’s basketball and volleyball teams.  Shannon then transferred to UW-Madison where she was accepted into the School of Nursing and graduated with her BSN in 2010. After graduation, Shannon was employed as a nurse in Madison at UW-Hospital in the Emergency Department and later transferred to the Cardio-Thoracic ICU. While working full-time, Shannon continued her studies and enrolled in the Nurse Practitioner Program offered through George Washington University in Washington, D.C. where she successfully completed the program in the Spring of 2018 with a 4.0 GPA.  In June of 2018 she accepted a Family Nurse Practitioner position with UW-Madison Union Corners Clinic in Internal Medicine, and was to have started her career as a nurse practitioner on September 10, 2018.   

It’s difficult to put into words who Shannon was and who she continues to be in the lives of those she touched. Her smile could lift anyone’s spirits, and her expressions of love were heartfelt and genuine.  As a medical professional, Shannon wanted to make a difference in the lives of her patients.  She wanted everyone to live up to their potential and strive to be the best they could be.  Shannon was very focused in her personal and professional life.  She would set a goal, do the work, and then succeed.  She felt daily exercise was important, and her athletic accomplishments included participating in Ironman 70.3 in 2015 and 2017.  Shannon’s most precious accomplishment was becoming a mom and sharing her love of travel and adventure with her husband and son. 

The Shannon Marie and Louis Porter Smith foundation is being funded in part by the generous donations made through Go Fund Me as well as private gifts. These gifts will be distributed through annual scholarships to UW School of Nursing students, and to Wausau area nursing students. Our goal is to continue to grow the scholarship and to extend the reach of this foundation throughout the communities that supported Shannon.