Obituary for Melvin E. Schmidt

Melvin E Schmidt, age 89, passed away on Sunday, February 23, 2020, at Wells Nature View under the care of St. Croix Hospice. His funeral service will be held at 11:00 AM on Saturday, February 29, 2020 at Trinity Lutheran Church (301 Elm St) in Athens. Visitation will be held 4:00 PM – 7:00 PM Friday February 28, 2020 at the Hansen-Schilling Funeral Home (1010 E. Veterans Parkway) in Marshfield and again 9:30 AM until the time of service on Saturday at the church. Burial will be held at Trinity Lutheran Church Cemetery following the funeral service.

Melvin was born on January 2, 1931, the son of Erwin and Dorothy (Conrad) Schmidt. He married Dolores (Ewan), his love at Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Milan. They were married 62 ½ years. The first six years of his schooling were spent in the Hamburg area. In 1943 the family moved to the Athens area where he finished 7th and 8th grades at Trinity Lutheran School. He continued his education at Athens High School, graduating in 1949. He enlisted in the Army stationed in Germany from January 1951 until 1954, attaining the rank of Sgt.

After his military service he went to Tech school for auto mechanics. Melvin was also a substitute postal carrier, which he did until there was an opening for Postmaster in the Rib Lake area. He went on to the Athens Post Office, then Merrill Post Office for 11 months and eventually received the postmastership at Nekoosa from where he retired in 1993. The family moved to the Marshfield area in 1994.

Melvin was always very active in the Legion, village and very, very active in his church and organizations at the Lutheran church, MO. Synod. He helped build churches for 8 summers with Laborers for Christ in 8 different places throughout Wisconsin.

He thoroughly enjoyed gardening, hunting, trapping and “puttering” at the 40. He loved nature and always wondered of the beauty, strength and life lessons found in nature. Eventually this all came to an end when the effects of Parkinson’s became too much of a burden. He now joins his son: Rob; his parents; as well as brothers: Gilbert and Eugene in heaven. He Leaves behind his wife: Dolores and his sons: Douglas (Lucy), Jay (Sandy) and David. Also four grandchildren: Tim (Grace), Cody (Jackie), Michelle (Derek) and Jennifer; plus four great grandchildren: Trinity, Emma, Sawyer, and new born Harper; as well as two siblings: Audrey Venzke and Dolores (Tom) Venzke; as well as his sister-in-law: Violet Schmidt.

We thank the staff at Wells Nature View so very, very much for everything they did to make him as comfortable as possible.

Note: Melvin was able to go on the Honor Flight with his son Douglas.