Ralph H. “Smitty” Schmidt

A celebration of life for Ralph H. “Smitty” Schmidt, 84, Lawrence, will be at 10 a.m. Saturday at St. Paul United Church of Christ in Eudora. Burial will follow at Eudora Cemetery.Mr. Schmidt died Tuesday, May 3, 2005, at Pioneer Ridge Retirement Community in Lawrence.He was born Oct. 12, 1920, in Eudora, the son of Emil and Anna Gerstenberger Schmidt. He graduated from Eudora High School in 1937 and from Sweeney Aircraft in Kansas City in 1941.Mr. Schmidt served in the U.S. Army Air Corps from 1943 to 1945. He worked for North American Aircraft from 1941 to 1943, Massman Patty Construction Co. from 1943 to 1951 and Hercules Power Co. from 1951 to 1958. He was a power house operator for the Coop Feed Mill in Muncie from 1958 to 1961 and worked for General Motors from 1961 to 1983. He had also been a mechanic in Eudora.He was a past member of Doric Masonic Lodge and the Helianthus Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star in Eudora. He was a member of St. Paul United Church of Christ in Eudora.He married Sarah M. Lucas on Aug. 17, 1941, in Eudora. She survives, of the home.Other survivors include a son, Ronald G. Schmidt, Lawrence; two granddaughters; and a great-grandson.The family suggests memorials to the church or Parkinson’s Disease Foundation, sent in care of Warren-McElwain Mortuary in Lawrence.E-mail condolences may be sent to info@warrenmcelwain.com, subject: Schmidt.