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THE HENRY (Heinie) & CECELIA (Cele) FAMILY STORY

    This year the "Reds" can kick back and enjoy a good time at the reunion.  They hosted the 2001 reunion, and that will be a hard act to follow.  

    The Reds are a photogenic group, you don't need to look far to find their pictures.  However, we are missing parts of their family story.  Be sure to read last year's letter below...they are off to a good start.  Come on Laurie, get your family going!  I'm giving you the challenge...

Dear Schmid Family,

This note is not about the "old days" but about today. Since we do not have WEB access in our home, our son Michael printed the WEB pages and created a booklet for Uncle Harold and Grandma to have. We wanted you to know all the hours Harold and Grandma has spent "reading" the Schmid stories and looking at the pictures. What a wonderful gift you have given to us all – thank you.

  As you know, mom (Cecelia) and Harold have made their home with us in St Louis for past 3 ½ years and we all have such good feelings about it. Our time with mom and Harold has been a joy. Our house would be so empty without them.

  Harold doesn’t talk a lot but you sure know what he means by his actions. You can’t walk by him without getting a big hug and kiss. Gary and Harold have become best buddies and they love to go on errands together. He loves to sit in the front seat of the car and will give Gary a kiss on the cheek as he buckles up the safety belt.

We have a new puppy after having lost Max, our dog, 6 years ago. When Harold awoke in the morning Helene asked him what we should name the new puppy and he says "Max". How amazing that Harold remembers Max after so long. And yes, we did name the new puppy Max also!

These are some of our thoughts we wanted to share on mom and our guardian angel Harold Edward Schmid.

Helene and Gary Gazall

1989 Cele isn't really asking for donations...

August 2001, Cele and Harold enjoy the Odyssey Reunion

Harold, the Altar boy, in procession.

Cecilia Sankey Schmid: I was born on October 15, 1915 in Koelztown, Missouri. Shortly after I was born, my dad hurried me to church to be baptized because I was turning blue. As you can see, I turned out okay.

My dad was born in Hamburg, Germany. His folks settled in Kansas. He was always interested in reading, music and teaching. His birth date was July 2, 1865 and he died on December 2, 1946. My dad had a younger brother, Frank. I don’t know when he left Kansas. He came to see us and he told dad he was on his way to California. My dad received a Christmas card every year from him. He had very pretty handwriting. I don’t know what kind of work he did. He retired in Medford, Oregon. His wife’s name was Genevieve. They had 2 children, all are deceased. My mom’s people settled down in Argyle and Vienna area. They were farmers. My mom was a teacher too at the Renneke family school. Mom’s birthday is November 5, 1875 and she died on June 27, 1940. She had two brothers and three sisters.

Dad was the teacher and organist in Koeltztown. St. Boniface is the patron saint of Koeltztown and was founded in 1858. Argyle did not have a church and school at that time. Most people from there came to church in Koeltztown. People from Meta and Freeburg also came to church there. This is where my mom and dad met. Mom asked him to come for Sunday dinner. From that time on, they had dinner every Sunday. There were married at St. Boniface church. They had eight children and I was the youngest. Dad continued as the teacher and organist for several years.

In the early years, the Jesuits served the area. My dad liked the Jesuits. We lived on a farm with chickens, pigs, cows and a garden. In the garden, we grew corn and wheat. I remember the old tractor would always break down, after loosing a day or two, it was okay again and my brothers went back to cutting wheat. A few days later the big thrashing machine would come and thrash the wheat. Usually we did not have much notice. We had to hurry to get food together for lunch, which included fried chicken. Lucky for us, we had chickens in the chicken house.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Teenie and I had many chores: feed the chickens, gather the eggs… sometimes a big black snake was in the nest!! Teenie’d say, "Let’s go!" We also had to milk the cows. Most of the time, we had to do all of this before school.

My grandparents came to live near us in a log cabin. I don’t know when that was, I was pretty young and they were elderly. Their names were Carl and Catherine Sankey. Grandma was sick with severe arthritis. I only ever saw her in bed since she was crippled up and couldn’t get around too well. (Maybe I inherited arthritis from her?!)

When I was little I would go outside all the time. It was always warm. Grandpa would ask me to come in. He had a crucifix with holy pictures on it and he liked to talk to me about them. The crucifix is still in existence. Grandma and grandpa died when I was still young. I did not attend the funerals.

The Notre Dame sisters came to Koeltztown in 1910. By then, Argyle had a church and school. My dad taught there for four years. After that, he taught in small country schools. Wiles school, near Argyle, then on to Reichel School near Freeburg. He would walk everywhere, although sometimes he would ride a horse through the woods to make a shortcut. He was the teacher and organist in Folk, Missouri too. My brother would take him there by horse and buggy. The roads were not very good and it was about nine miles of mud and bumps every day. While he was in Koeltztown, he did manage to put in the first pipe organ. Many people did not want it though – too much money.

Koeltztown was a small town. It had a church, a school and Melies store. (Fr. Melies came from that Koeltztown family and parish. The last parish where he presided was St. Andrews. Dad (Henry) and I went to his wake in that church.

Mr. Melies had the local post office and filling station too. Mr. Schoenhour owned the blacksmith shop. Most people did their own sewing. If we needed a doctor, we would go to Argyle. There were no phones or electricity and we used lamps. We traveled by horseback or walked, but on Sundays we went to church by horse and buggy. Teenie and I "learned" how to get on a horse down the hill. The horse’s name was Prince and there was snow and ice on the ground. Prince’s hind leg slipped on the embankment and both of us fell off, but we got back on and Prince took us home. I don’t think we did that anymore.

Later on, some folks bought cars and they had to crank them to start. I remember Mr. Melies broke his arm doing that! My dad bought a Buick. It was a square looking car with high doors and the top was very heavy and kind of dangerous. He bought if from Frank Sandbothe – I guess he did not like it either!

Antoinette, Carl, Otto, and Greg all went to school where the Notre Dame sisters taught in Koeltztown. As time went on, Schola, Ike, Christine (Teenie) and I went off to school also. My first teacher was Sr. Regis. She was very strict and I was afraid of her. I was so young and did not understand how to use an ink pen and ink well. I would get ink blotches all over the paper and on my hands. After Sr. Regis, we had Sr. Raymunda. She was pleasant and I liked her. Then we had Sr. Godrica, who was originally from Westphalia where she taught the upper grades. We could always tell when she was in a bad mood.

Teenie and I walked to school every day through the brush and mud, even in bad weather. Our shoes were always muddy and we would try to clean them off in the grass and our clothes were damp from the wet brush. (I hated that we looked like that.)

When Antoinette was old enough, she took on teaching jobs. She taught in New Almo, Kansas, Robertsville, Folk, and Bonnots Mill, Missouri and Meppen, Illinois. It was there that she met Tim Canan, a mail carrier. After several months, they were married in St. Boniface’s church and they started their family. After some years, Tim was badly burned in a fire and died. Antoinette moved back to Koeltztown and her children went to school there then. Antoinette was born on February 24, 1904 and she died on April 1, 1996.

My brother, Carl, could not do much, but when he was 12 or 13 years old, he was badly hurt one night trying to put out a brush fire in the neighbor’s field. His leg was bad and he was in a lot of pain. My dad took him to the doctor in Argyle, but he said he couldn’t do much for him. So my dad took him to St. Mary’s hospital in Jefferson City, Missouri. They couldn’t help him either. So dad and Carl traveled by train to Barnes Hospital in St. Louis. They x-rayed his leg and found the bone was cracked and the ankle was badly damaged too. They had to scrap the bone. It seemed like a long time before they ever came home. Carl took care of his leg by himself. He had an open leg with a long sore that went from his ankle all the way to his upper leg. That never healed properly. Carl was getting more and more nervous and dad said he had a nervous breakdown. Several years later, dad had to put him in a home. I was in my second year of high school when that happened. Carl was born June 19, 1902 and he died in that home on February 1, 1986.

While all of this was going on, we were growing up. Otto and Greg were farm hands and would work for farmers in the area. They went to Conception, Missouri where there was a Benedictine Monastery. They had a big farm and raised their own food. They worked there for quite some time. Greg made friends with one of the students at the monastery who became a priest. They stayed friends until Greg’s death. His friend was notified at the time and he wrote a beautiful letter to Marie, his wife. Greg was born on May 23, 1908 and died April 23, 1990.

Otto left Conception to be a farmhand in Nebraska. He would sleep in a bunkhouse with the other workers…"just like in the movies." When the war started, his name came up and he was sent to Aleutian Island. It was very cold there and there was never enough food or blankets. The "Japs" were there for many years and a lot of them died from the cold and lack of food. On the other hand, many Americans were lost too either in battle or from the cold. After spending a year there, Otto was sent home. He had bought a Ford Coupe and it was parked in Antoinette’s driveway until he came for it. He went to work in St. Louis in the baggage department at Union Station. He had to do some kind of work towards the war effort or he’d get called back into service. He later met Cele Aug and they were married at St. John the Baptist church and they lived in St. Louis. Otto was born on December 9, 1905 and he was 86 when he died.

Greg went to Hardin, Illinois to work in the apple orchards. I don’t remember when he bought a 1929 Ford Model A in Linn. He married Marie Schulte from Folk, Missouri and they lived on the farm with their family where all of us grew up.

Schola was a teacher too. By that time, I was in high school at St. Peters. My dad was the organist there and I sang in the choir with the other singers. Schola wanted to enter the convent in Chicago, Illinois and she thought I should follow her where she was teaching, which was Cadet Creek School, a small country school between Loose Creek and Bonnots Mill, which is no longer in existence. After three years at St. Peters and one summer in Rolla, where I earned extra credits, I became a teacher myself. Schola did not stay in the convent and after the first semester, she came home. She began teaching again in Argyle, and Ozora, Missouri, near Ste. Genevieve, at Cadet Creek and in Meppen, Illinois. She met Al Golla and a year later they were married at St. Boniface Church. They always lived in Chicago. All of their children are doctors, lawyers and "such" –(more power to her). Schola was born February 16, 1910 and she died on July 3, 1999.

Ike was a farmhand also. For a while, he worked for a farmer in Ballwin, Missouri. I don’t remember his name though. Schola wrote to him and told him to come to Chicago, which he did, and after doing "this and that," he was hired at the electric company. He met Emily and later they were married. They had three children. Ike was in the Navy during World War II and served in the South Pacific. When he returned, he got his job back. They always lived in Chicago too. Ike was born November 29, 1911 and he died January 18, 1985.

Christine (Teenie) did housework and cooking in St. Louis. She worked in several homes. At first it was hard to get around since she had to learn how to use the streetcars. She said, "I was kind of dumb." She figured out how to get to the recreation hall and it was there that she met Joe Gutgesell. Later, she worked in a factory for the war effort, cooking in very large pots for the worker’s meals. She and Joe were married. Joe worked for Monsanto Chemical plant and also served in the Navy in the South Pacific. He too, got his job back at the plant after the war. Teenie was born March 22, 1913 and died October 30, 1997.

I was a teacher at the Cadet Creek School. I could go to Jefferson City by train for a quarter. There was a school dance with 2 fiddlers playing and it was there that I met Henry Schmid. We saw each other every weekend for several months and were then married at St. Louis Catholic Church in Bonnots Mill, Missouri. Henry worked at the farmer’s elevator driving the truck to St. Louis to buy fresh produce that the people ordered. We lived with Grandma and Grandpa Schmid during that time.

Jim was born in St. Mary’s hospital in Jefferson City, MO. Later we moved to St. Louis, but there was not much work to be found due to the depression. Schola said we would come to Chicago and dad went to work within three days. We lived in Chicago for several years. Jeanette and Helene were both born at Miserecordia hospital. Dad had a yearning to get back to St. Louis, but it was hard to leave because I liked Chicago. We had made so many friends there, like the Kotz family. Paul and Dick came to Chicago to work and we had the Osage Co. group. It was Schola, Ike, Paul, Dick, Art and Bret from Bonnots Mill and dad and I with our family. The guys had their Preference games even back then! By 1940-41, the war had started. Paul and Dick had to go through Chicago. Most men had to go and many volunteered. The factories opened up doing war work. Everybody went to work day and night. The 4 F’s and many women worked too. It’s said that it was the women that won the war. Dad was in the service for several months.

Harold was born in Fermin Desloge hospital. For a good while, I did not know he was retarded. I had never been around anybody like that before. Grandma Schmid knew though. Later Mary and Tom came along. They were good for me and they were "well babies." Harold went to school at St. John the Baptist’s special class. Jim went to school at St. Mary’s high school for boys at Grand and Delor after going to grade school at Immaculate Conception. After high school, he served three years in the Army. Jeanette and Helene went to Immaculate Conception grade school and then on to St. John the Baptist high school. Mary and Tom went to St. John the Baptist, where there was a regular grade school at the parish as well. They too, went onto the high school.

As time went on, Jim married Carolyn, Jeanette married Roger and Helene married Gary. Jeanette and Helene were both married at St. John the Baptist Church. Carolyn, Roger and Gary were all likeable people and we were happy to have them in our family.

After many years of hard work being a "body" man on cars and all of the insurance claims with Allstate, we bought 2 ¾ acres of land in Koeltztown. We retired there. Mary and Rocky were married in St. Peters Church; Tom and Steph were married too. We had lived there seven years when Dad got sick with cancer. He died in St. Mary’s hospital in Jefferson City, Missouri on August 5, 1979. He was born June 16, 1911. His mass was at St. Boniface Church and he was buried in the St. Boniface cemetery.

Harold and I stayed in the house, taking care of my garden, cutting grass and many other things. But after 26 years, we had to give it up. We both got sick and needed care, plus there were many visits to the doctor. After a lot of thinking, nervous feelings, and adjustments, we decided we had to make some changes. With all of Gary and Helene’s patience and all of the support from my family, we have been living with Gary and Helene for over three years now. We all keep in touch by phone and visits. You will all go straight to heaven.

All in my family like to read, enjoy music and many other things to keep up their livelihood. All have high ideals and I am thankful to all in my family for their accomplishments. To all of my children, grandchildren and great grandchildren, I thank them for their love. God bless you all.

Like Grandpa Schmid used to say, "All these good looking Schmid kids!"

Like Monsignor Behrman said, "All in my family will go straight to heaven."

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