... excerpts from pages of notes from my Father (Paul Schmidt) to my oldest daughter Katherine... about 20-years-ago [circa 2003].  Kevin Schmidt

1933
Thousands of people would have been happy to find a job paying 50 cents to a dollar a day. With very little work to be had we lived at the farm with my grandparents.

I learned how to shoot a shotgun and began to hunt rabbits and quail. Grandpa Daughton passed away that year. He was born in 1863, he died broke and living on assistance but his funeral was the first of two times that I ever saw the church in Leon so full, people had to stand outside on the steps. The other was in 1974 when his son James died... Respected in life, respected in death.

1946
Became a wheel man in the 7th grade. I started driving the car that the Leon Jr. High School basketball team took for out of town games. Never used our own car, it was always a teachers. Once I drove a car that belonged to the sheriff, it didn't seem to matter that I never had a drivers license and wasn't old enough to get one. Had a job at the Western Auto Store but it closed so that summer I worked on a hay baler, for a penny a bale.

1948
The most memorable event my freshman year at Leon High School was the intramural basketball tournament. Our first game was against the junior class team who were the most arrogant crowd in school. They fully expected to wipe the gym floor with the freshman but as it turned out we won 54 to 35 and I scored 27 of the points. The best part of the night was when I looked over at the bleachers and saw Dad sitting there. He was building the Tuberculosis (TB) Sanitarium in Ottumwa at the time and generally didn't get home until after six each night. To this day I don't know why he was home early. After the game I walked over to where he was sitting to say hi, he just smiled and said, "Good Game." I showered and we walked home together. I have often wondered what his thoughts were as he watched me play in that gymnasium he helped build in 1927. To my knowledge it was the only game he got to see me play.

... The key is not to become completely encompassed by any limiting culture.

Always be diligent in whatever you study but do not become completely engrossed. Book mark what you learn and file it away for use later in the larger framework of life. Listen to all ideas and viewpoints, discard what is worthless or impractical, mix what is left with others for improvement and file away for future reference. Never limit yourself and never... be afraid to express your own opinion.

Grandpa Joe