George William Schmidt

May 17, 1931 - April 20, 2012 George William Schmidt was called peaceably to his heavenly home on April 20th, 2012, from the Springwood Campus in Arvada, Colorado at the age of 80. He was born into this life on May 17th, 1931, in Sherwood, Wisconsin, the youngest son of Arthur Alvina (Russ) Schmidt. George graduated from Kaukauna High School, Wisconsin, in 1949 and soon after joined the US Air Force. He was stationed at Fairford Air Base, Gloucestershire, England during the Korean War. While in England, he met and married Jill Foster of Essex, in 1953. Upon returning to the US, they relocated to Denver, Colorado. George was employed as a mechanical engineer with special interest in aerospace engineering. During his career, he worked for several companies including Sunstrand, Dow Chemical and Martin Marrietta. He was very proud of his contributions to the aerospace missile program. After retiring in 1989, George became involved with the Arvada Food Bank where he spent many hours distributing food staples and words of encouragement to those who needed a "little help." George was a life- long blood donor and he made it a family priority to attend local bible-based churches. Throughout his life, George had the opportunity to travel extensively around the Southwest, as well as internationally to places such as Canada, Mexico, Europe, Costa Rica and even the Great Wall of China and Nepal. His other interests included fishing, hiking and rock hounding. Given the opportunity, he would never pass up on a game of darts, horseshoes, ping pong or checkers with his granddaughter. George leaves behind his wife of 59 years, Jill Schmidt of Arvada; his 3 children: Mark, (Paula) of Broomfield, CO, Paul, (Sheryl) Schmidt of Canby, OR and Yvonne, (Mark) Savarise of Sandpoint, ID; granddaughter Lindsey Schmidt of Denver; sister Elaine (Warren) Giese of Sauk City, WI and sister-in-law Jean Schmidt of Menasha, WI. He was preceded in death by his parents, his brothers Arthur, Gerald and James Schmidt, his sisters Anna (Floyd) Morrow and Delores Schmidt; and his infant daughter Jennifer Schmidt. A memorial celebration of George's life will be held at the Arvada Community Food Bank, May 25th, 5 p.m. In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to the Arvada Community Food Bank, 8555 W. 57th Ave, Arvada, CO 80002 (303-424-6685).