Details

Collection Summary
Collection: FND001 - SHSND Foundation - North Dakota Heritage Family Memorial Program
Series: Tribute
Folder: DIG
Item: 270951
Title: Ida L. Schmitt
Date: 1/26/1927-5/7/2023
Inscription/Marks: 1/26/1927
Summary: Ida L. Schmitt passed away May 7, 2023. A memorial service was held June 5, 2023, at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Bismarck, ND. Burial was at the Sunny Slope Cemetery in Mott, ND. Ida Lorine Schmitt, the daughter of Jacob and Albina (Bertsch) Schmitt, was born January 26, 1927, on the Schmitt farmstead nine miles southeast of Regent, ND. She was baptized and confirmed at Christ Lutheran Church in Mott, attended rural school in Chilton Township and graduated from Mott Lincoln High School in 1944. After graduation from high school, Ida began her career in education at age 17 by teaching one year in her rural home school and one year in the Mott Elementary School. She graduated from Concordia College in 1950. Her employment at the Anne Carlsen Center in Jamestown, ND, from 1950 to 1962 introduced her to the field of special education in which she was immersed the remainder of her professional life. At the ACC, she taught for four years in the elementary grades plus junior high and high school math, then served as principal for eight years. During the summer months, Ida earned a master’s degree at Syracuse University in the education of brain injured and physically handicapped children. She sought additional training in counseling and Christian education by attending the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago and Northwestern University in Evanston, IL. Ida studied at Peabody College/Vanderbilt in Nashville, TN, during the 1962-1963 school year where she earned a specialist degree in the education of children with social/emotional needs. Ida served as school mental health consultant in the North Dakota Department of Health from 1963 to 1966 where she visited schools state wide to follow-up children who were evaluated at the state psychiatric clinic in Bismarck., providing in-service training for teachers and documenting the need for school and community services for children with social/emotional handicaps. From 1966 until her retirement in 1988, Ida served as Assistant Director of Special Education in the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction. During that time, she was given the Humanitarian Award by the North Dakota Council for Exceptional Children (1986) and was named the Special Educator of the Year by the North Dakota Association of Children with Learning Disabilities (1988). At age 91, she was recognized as the “Outstanding Senior of 2018” by Missouri Slope Lutheran Care Center. While a member of Faith Lutheran Church, Ida’s leadership areas included serving on the church council, teacher of the Bethel Bible Studies, and serving as the first leader of the Stephen Ministry Program. Since 1996 she was an active member of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church. Ida was committed to searching and documenting her family’s histories, which eventually led her to visit the Black Forest Area of Germany where the Schmitt family originated and the vicinity surrounding Stuttgart where it is believed her mother’s Bertsch/Schaeffer families originated. During a tour of the Soviet Union, her delight was to visit the Odessa depot (in South Russia, now the Ukraine) from which her father had embarked at age four to immigrate with his parents to America in 1898. Among other travels, two of special significance were the Bethel Bible Series tour of the Orient including the International Conference in Seoul, Korea, and the Soviet Union Tour arranged by the Christian Endeavor Organization. In September 2015, Ida moved to Valley View Heights, an assisted living facility in Bismarck. In August 2022, she moved to SMP Health Ave Maria in Jamestown, where she resided until her death. Ida is survived by 15 nieces and nephews, Henrietta Milner, Dekalb, IL, Marlene Zent, Mesa, AZ, Sherryl Heinrich, Mesa, Rodney (Laurie) Oberlander, Camarillo, CA, Dennis Schmitt, Jamestown, Lucinda (Jeff) Malm, Kulm, ND, Lynette Terjesen, Kulm, Theresa (Roger) Olson, Frazee, MN, Timothy (Sherry) Schmitt, Norfolk, NE, Thomas (Linda) Schmitt, Geneva, IL, Dr. Rebecca (Kevin) Leidal, Solon IA, Heidi (Jeff) Vansteenburg, Battle Lake, MN, and Sonja (Kent) Casperson, Colleyville, TX; godchild, Margaret (Jon) Young, Fargo, ND; grandniece godchild, Tracy Collins, Jacksonville, FL; and many other grand- and great-grand- nieces and nephews. Preceding her in death were Ida’s parents, Jacob and Albina Schmitt; brothers, Emanuel (Leona) and Otto (LaVerne); sisters, Alma (Henry) Erlenbusch, Clara (Adam) Oberlander, Martha (Arthur) Frisvold, Esther Schmitt, Emma (Clarence) Kamka, and Lydia Schmitt; nieces, Doris Ross and Adeline Schwalbe; nephew, Arlen Oberlander; and two infant siblings, Henry and Eva.
Red ID: FND_I_78443 Image ID: 599631 Image Notes: FND001 270951

Collection: FND001 Digitized Images from Collection
Title: SHSND Foundation - North Dakota Heritage Family Memorial Program
Date: -

Summary: The North Dakota Heritage Family Memorial Program is sponsored by the North Dakota Funeral Directors Association. The life stories of deceased North Dakotans are featured in an archvied collection. Current partners in the project are Eastgate Funeral & Cremation Services, Bismarck Evans Funeral Homes, Carrington and New Rockford Everson-Coughlin Funeral Home, Williston Fulkerson Funeral Home, Tioga Fulkerson Funeral Home, Watford City Fulkerson Stevenson Funeral Home, Williston Nero Funeral Home, Bottineau Parkway Funeral Service, Bismarck Springan Stevenson Funeral Home, Stanley Stevenson Funeral Home, Dickinson These funeral homes provide recent obituaries to the Foundation, where staff and volunteers format, edit and archive each memorial. The memorials are posted, and copies are sent to the family for their input and approval. The listing currently features more than 13,000 memorials, and is constantly updated as new memorials and histories are received.

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