Louise Schuurman was the daughter of the Counsul General of the Netherlands, based in New Orleans when Jackie Cochran recruited her. She held a Commercial license with an instructor's rating having logged 227 hours at the time of her application. Louise traveled to England with the first group of American women in March 1942. She served with the ATA until July of 1945.
Little is known about the later stages of Schuurman's life. Winnie Pierce Beasley sent a telegram to her father who was finally found in Brisbane, Australia in 1970. His answer to her question about how to find Louise was simple: "To answer your letter of the 25th of September 1970 I regret having to inform you that my daughter Louise is no longer alive. She crashed."