Margie Schmidt entered the presence of the Lord on June 15, 2022 at the Hospice House in Hutchinson, Kansas. She was born May 27, 1940 in Cordell, Oklahoma to loving parents John and Susie Rempel. She grew up in a large white farmhouse outside of Corn, Oklahoma spending time with many of her beloved 70 first cousins, gathering eggs, enjoying her cats, playing with dolls, and making mud-pies, all activities that foreshadowed her amazing homemaking skills. When she was 5, she started spending her summers cooking alongside her mom for her dad’s custom harvesting crew on a cook stove in a small trailer without running water. Because of those experiences, she promised herself she would not marry a custom harvester, not knowing the boy, Geral Schmidt, in her 12-person class that she started dating at 16 would indeed become a custom harvester. At Corn High School, she was a spunky cheerleader and a member of the 3-on-3 women’s basketball team. She married Geral at 19 and was an incredible help-mate to him both in sickness and in health during their 61 years of marriage. Margie was the first in her family to graduate from college, earning her Business and Home Economics degrees from Southwestern Oklahoma State University. While her greatest calling was serving as a wise and nurturing mother to Clark and Susan, she also taught business, home economics, and government classes to high school students in the Lorraine, Alden and Sterling school districts for about 20 years before transitioning to a substitute role. She said teaching high school students was “exhilarating.” During the summers until she was 65, she worked tirelessly cooking and delivering delicious and hearty meals to the field for an 8-12 person crew on a wheat harvest run that went from Texas to Montana. During her harvesting career that spanned 60 years she mothered not only Clark and Susan but also “her boys” on the crew. She was also a gifted business manager with a great mind for details. However, her greatest joy was her role as a very loving and supportive “Mimi” to her 5 grandchildren; she attended as many of their activities and birthday parties as possible, loved making cookies or playing games with them, and hosted incredible Christmas celebrations. Margie was also a talented seamstress who sewed clothes in her younger years and transitioned in later years to creating beautiful quilts that her family cherishes. She also loved visiting with her many dear friends and reading as a part of the Page Turners Book Club. As a member of United Methodist Church in Sterling, she served as a trustee, member of Open Hearts Sunday School Class and faithful volunteer with her beloved church family and helped start a group that made quilts for veterans and shut ins. Margie served in every possible office in PEO, as both president and vice-president of Sorosis, and as president of Rice County Republican Women. She also served on the Board of Trustees of Sterling College, South Central Community Foundation, and Republican Central Committee. Margie was preceded in death by her husband, parents, brother, John E. Rempel, sister-in-law, Erna, and niece, Maxine. She is survived by her daughter, Susan (Lee) of Dallas, and son, Clark (Jessica), of Sterling as well as her grandchildren Garrett (Claire) and Allison Riffe of Dallas and Debra, Wyatt, and Waylon Schmidt of Sterling. She is also survived by sisters-in-law Loretta (Howard) Schmidt of Corn, Oklahoma and Barbara (Ron) Goodman of Conway, Arkansas as well as many nieces and nephews. Funeral service will be at 2:00 P.M., Monday, June 20, 2022, at the First United Methodist Church, Sterling, with Pastor Amy Foster officiating. Burial will follow at the Sterling Community Cemetery. Visitation will be from 4:00 until 7:00 P.M., Sunday, June 19, 2022, at Birzer Funeral Home, Sterling with family present from 5:00 until 7:00 P.M. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Rice County Community Foundation (for a high school scholarship in Margie’s honor) or the Sterling United Methodist Church in care of Birzer Funeral Home, Sterling.
The funeral service will be live streamed on the Sterling First United Methodist Church's Facebook page for those wishing to view online.
To send flowers
to the family, please visit our floral store.