Sylvia Jane Brockschink was born in July of 1915 in Lenox Township, Iowa, to E. Henry and Martha Jane Brockschink. Brockschink was born the youngest of five siblings and spent much of her childhood working on the family farm and tending to the horses and mules. She graduated high school at Norway Consolidated in 1932 and attended the Iowa State Teacher’s College (now the University of Northern Iowa) over the summers from 1934 to 1939. Brockschink taught for eleven years in public schools and one-room schoolhouses in Benton and Iowa County from 1934 to 1945. She married Bernard Schulte in July 1941 with whom she would have five children.

Following Bernard’s military service from 1942 to 1944, the couple lived and worked on their farm in Lenox Township raising horses and Hereford hogs. Schulte was involved in many organizations in her life including the Hereford Hog Association, the American Legion Auxiliary, lifetime membership with the American Association of University Women (AAUW), and membership with the Lenox Township Church of the New Jerusalem. Schulte passed away in Norway, Iowa, in 2006.