Memorial services for Henry Schmidt, 93, of Mountain Lake, were held Saturday morning, December 21, 2013, in Sturm Funeral Home Chapel in Mountain Lake. Officiating was Rev. Nathan Janzen of Cornerstone Bible Church in Mountain Lake. Interment was in Jeffers City Cemetery.
Henry Schmidt passed away on Sunday, December 15, 2013, at the Good Samaritan Village in Mountain Lake.
Henry was born on April 16, 1920 to Jacob E. and Katherina (Quiring) Schmidt on the homestead farm near Chinook, Montana. His mother died when he was four-years-old, and later his father moved the family to Minnesota. Henry’s father then married Helen Reimer. As a young boy, Henry was treated for polio in Chicago, Illinois, and wore braces on his legs until he was age seven.
Henry graduated with the Mountain Lake Public High School Class of 1937. On May 16, 1937, he was baptized at Bethel Mennonite Church of Mountain Lake by Rev. John Bartel and became a member of the church. In 1941, he began working at Epps Department Store in Mountain Lake. He left the store in 1947 as the grocery department manager in order to enroll in Goshen College in Goshen, Indiana, graduating in 1950.
He married Mildred M. Cook on June 10, 1948 at Jeffers Methodist Church in Jeffers, Minnesota. Henry’s first teaching post was near Elkhart, Indiana, teaching fourth-grade. He and Mildred had hoped to teach in India, but due to health concerns, they instead found work teaching at Central Christian High School in Hutchinson, Kansas. Henry taught Social Studies and some music for six years. During the summers, he attended Emporia Teachers College in Emporia, Kansas, earning his Masters Degree in 1957. That same year, he began teaching at Mountain Lake Public High School, where he taught Social Studies, ran the Audio-Visual Department and started a class on the history of Mountain Lake. Although he retired from teaching in 1982, Henry continued to teach the Mountain Lake History class for five more years.
The mayor of Mountain Lake asked Henry to head the committee writing a historical book about the community for the city’s Centennial celebration in 1986. He and a co-chair moved the Mountain Lake Senior Center to a renovated building (now the Mountain Lake Community Center) and he continued to help the Mountain Lake Senior Club (including serving as its secretary and as a board member of the dining program). Henry worked with many Cottonwood County groups, including serving on the board of the Cottonwood County Historical Society Museum in Windom, Minnesota and as resident of the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP).
Henry was a faithful member of the Cornerstone Bible Church of Mountain Lake, formerly known as the Evangelical Mennonite Brethren Church (EMB), having transferred his membership from an EMB church in Kansas. He served on many church councils, was Sunday School Superintendent and earned an award of recognition for teaching Sunday School for over 40 years. At the 2005 EMB Church Convention, held in Mountain Lake, he was presented the Anna Regier Christian Education Worker of the Year award by the FEBC Commission on Education for his exemplary and influential impact as a Christian educator.
Henry enjoyed games, camping, fishing, singing, traveling, birding, volunteering – and DON’T bother him while he was watching the Minnesota Twins. He also enjoyed singing and sang in many groups, including quartets and the German Singers.
Henry is survived by his daughter, Rebecca “Becky” Jo (Eugene) Waack of Sioux Falls, South Dakota; grandchildren, Dawn Waack, Laura (Frank) Steenhagen, Keith Waack, Amber (Brian) Sievert and Michael Waack; and great-grandchildren, Tierany, Cara, Keely, Luke and Levi. Preceding him in death were his father, mother and stepmother; wife, Millie; son, Glen; sisters, Frieda and infant Mary and stepbrother, Jacob.