Wordless Wednesday: Colorado Skiing - 1953

Faces From the Past -- A Picnic in Kiowa County

Once when I was very young, my grandmother, Beatrice Schmidt, and her sisters, Vi Dirks and Edna Schmidt, decided we should all go on a picnic out in the field near where they grew up. The group included those three and my Aunt Judi, my mom, my sister, Nancy, my brother, Arlin and I. We walked in a shallow creek bed for a good while and I think the reason the whole event sticks with me so well, is because we all found ourselves covered in leeches and had to peel them off of ourselves. Anyway, I found a few old slide photos of that day. My guess is it was the very early 1960s.

This one is one of my all-time favorite pictures.

Those Places Thursday - Kansas MCC Relief Sale, Hutchinson, Kansas - "The Junk Man"

The Mennonite Relief Sale in Hutchinson at the State Fair Grounds has been a part of my family for many, many years. I remember going when the auction was in the old sale barn. My grandparents, Beatrice and Harvey Schmidt, were almost always there. It was a time to see people from all around the state and even outside the state that you hadn't seen in awhile.

The sale is a charity sale - with all proceeds going to MCC - the missions branch of the Mennonite churches. There was always a quilt auction with quilts made and donated by churches and individuals. Plenty of other things get auctioned off as well, but the quilt auction has been a big draw for some time. But maybe even more of a draw than the quilts, is the food. Because, while not everyone can afford to bid on a quilt, everyone can enjoy the food.

We attended and enjoyed the sale during the years my grandparents were alive, but after they died, the sale took on a new meaning. My dad had worked out an agreement with his dad, Harvey, regarding the years and acres of accumulation of stuff. Grandpa Harvey loved auctions and there was more than a little stuff piled up on his farm. Someday I'll write more about that.

One of the first years

But for now, it is enough to say that Dad and Grandpa came to an agreement that what the family did not want, could be sold at auction with the proceeds going to MCC. So after Grandpa died, Dad took on the project of taking several trailer loads of stuff to the MCC sale in Hutchinson every year and selling it. Dad was fondly known as the "junk man" at the sale and people looked for him and his stuff every year.

He sold old tools, wheelbarrows, buckets, wagons, tractor seats, pumps, jacks . . .the list goes on and on. Any number of things in just about any condition. Many people used these rusty items as yard art. Occasionally someone would find something they'd been looking for - a particularly collectible tool or hood ornament.

These pictures were taken in some of the last years and by the looks of it, they were taken at the end of the two-day sale.

One year they made the news in the Hutchinson paper's coverage of the sale.

The sale was always a great place for family from all over the country to meet up and have fun. There are lots more stories and pictures from years of going to sales but I'll save those for another time.

Wordless Wednesday - Kansas Harvest Years Past

BIRTHDAY BIO - Ken Schmidt 1932-2011 - The Early Years

Kenneth 1936

I started Dad's bio blog in 2013 on his birthday, and continue here . . . .

Kenneth 1935

Kenneth was the oldest child. His brother was two years younger and the two of them were constant companions as they grew up. They worked together on the farm, they went hunting and fishing and they went to school in a one room schoolhouse up the road from where they lived.

Ken and his brother, Lee, on bicycles

Harvey and Kenneth

Kenneth - first duck

The back of this photo says that Ken skipped school to go quail and duck hunting with his dad south of Coldwater.

 

1932 Chevy, Ken and Fred Smith

Ken liked cars. His early letters often mentioned that he had stopped at a dealership to look at the new cars.

Harvest - the boy in center is Ken

Ken with his sister, Judi and their dog

Kenneth's sister, Judith, was several years younger than her brothers. They thought the world of their adorable little sister, although I know they teased her as well.

One of Ken's school papers tells what he like to do . . .

Ken - school assignment "What I Like To Do"

Wordless Wednesday - Snow day with Grandma Bea about 1962

Talent Tuesday - Part Two of Dad's Artwork - Leathercraft

I mentioned in a previous post that my dad was very artistic. His ability to draw was not the only talent he had. While he was in 1-W service in the early 50's he worked on a couple of different hobbies. He lived in Pueblo, Colorado, near the hospital where he worked.

I am not sure how he learned to do leatherwork or who taught him but he perfected his skills during the years in Colorado. He made purses, belts and billfolds. This photo was in the Pueblo paper.















We still have a few of the things he made  --  mostly things he made for mom [Phyl] or himself. But I don't think this beautiful purse has ever been used.

It is lined with turquoise suede.

He gave things to his family and his cousins and he sold things to people sometimes too. Often people would request something to be made and personalized. He also made a purse and put it in the hospital gift pool at Christmas one time. He talked about it in his letters to mom. 

Talent Tuesday -- The Artwork of Ken Schmidt, part 1 -- Childhood Drawings

My dad, Ken Schmidt, was gifted in many ways. He began drawing when he was very young. These were drawn in December of 1942 when he would have been 10 years old. You can see he was influenced by the news.

He also drew on a grain bin that he walked by on his way to school. Those drawings are a little difficult to see and harder still to photograph but they are still there all these years later.

And in high school he was well known for his art. He often drew sketches for posters and programs.

His yearbook lists a Class Prophecy as follows: "Ken Schmidt, who spent all his high school days down by the creek fishing, now finds himself a broken down artist drawing pictures for little children."

In later years, he would often sketch. He liked to sketch while on vacation. One year dad and mom went to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico with my family and I. This is a sketch he made there.

Occasionally as I go through things, I come across a small sketch. It always brings a smile to my face as I remember Dad.

Sibling Saturday -- Edna Schmidt Cooper 1887-1964

The Benjamin Schmidt and Catharina Siebert Schmidt family have had an annual reunion since the 1930s. Children and grandchildren and great grandchildren keep up the family news. But sometimes there is a sibling who for one reason or another gets left behind, usually because they didn't have a family. I feel that way about Edna.

Edna Schmidt Cooper

Edna was the eleventh child and youngest daughter of Benjamin and Catherina Schmidt. She was born on 4 October 1887 in Barton County, Kansas. She is the only one of their children who lived to adulthood and did not have children of her own.

Edna lived at home with her parents most of her life. She cared for them until they died.

She is found in their home in the 1900, 1910 and 1920 censuses.  Her mother died in 1919 and her father died in 1927. In the 1930 census, she is found in the home of her brother Abraham and his wife, Lena, in Kiowa County, Kansas.

The 1940 census shows her living with her new husband, widower Charles Cooper, and three of his six children. Edna and Charles were married in January of 1940. Edna was 52, Charles 51. They lived on Maple Street in Greensburg.

Edna died in June of 1964 at age 76 and Charley in January of 1973. They are both buried in Fairview Cemetery in Greensburg.

  

       

CHARLEY COOPER FAMILY:

Charles Cooper was born to Oliver Cooper and Ella Baker on the 16^th of June 1888. He married a woman named Martha and they had the following six children: 

(listed with an approximate birth date; they were all born in Oklahoma)

Ruth            1913

Beulah         1915

JW               1917

Charles W    1920

Dirl             1922

Dale            1924   - who is buried in Fairview Cemetery by his dad

Martha died sometime prior to 1930.

Wedding Wednesday -- Ken and Phyllis (Egli) Schmidt -- August 17, 1955

My parents, Ken and Phyllis Schmidt dated for four years before they got married. My mom had to finish nurses training [student nurses in her school were not allowed to get married] and my dad was doing alternative service for conscientious objectors. They were both Mennonites.

Ken and Phyl's engagement photo

This picture was taken in Dad's room at a boarding house in Pueblo, Colorado.

They are reading their engagement scripture, which for the life of me I can't find! I think it is written on the original slide. I'll have to dig it out.

Ken and Phyllis and their parents, Emery and Edna Egli and Harvey and Beatrice Schmidt.

They were married in Mom's home church, Manson (Iowa) Mennonite. Their reception was at her parents home.

The entire wedding party

Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Schmidt

Tech Tuesday -- Memory Medallions -- Connecting the Future to the Past

Memory Medallions have been mentioned before on blogs but the only one I saw that was labeled Tech Tuesday, had a broken link. Anyway it has been awhile since it has been mentioned.

I just revisited mine this week so I thought I would mention it..

Memory Medallions are small coin-like medallions that have a variety of uses but the most common is placing one on a headstone, which is what I did. Mine was given to me as a gift after my parents died  -- my mom in 2010 and my dad in 2011.

Here you can see the medallion in the lower right hand corner.

The medallion has a QR code on it:

The code can be scanned with any smart phone.

When you scan it, it takes you to a web page. The web page is yours to complete however you wish with stories, photos, videos and links. (I need to link to this blog!)

This is mine:

You can also take a picture of the bar code to use later  --  or you can go to the Memory Medallion website and search for the page by the name.

They are kind of pricey and of course there is always a million comments and questions about being able to use them with future technology and people using them for identity theft etc. but the concept remains pretty awesome. I don't have much on my parents site. No video and only the one picture. I can't help but wonder if putting one on my great-great grandparents headstone, might connect me to distant cousins! I know technology has already connected me with many cousins I would never have otherwise met.

Another thought - you could purchase one for your own headstone and leave whatever messages you want!

Wedding Wednesday -- Cornelius Smith and Katie Unruh -- married in 1904

Cornelius Smith (Schmidt), son of Tobias and Luvantina (Decker) Schmidt

married

Katherine Unruh, daughter of Peter B.  and Anna (Frey) Unruh

on

August 18, 1904

at

the Office of the Probate Judge in Marion County, Kansas