Schmit
Robert Howard – October 22, 1922 to May 6, 2012
Dad was the eldest child born to Albert and Frances Schmit. He was born October 22, 1922 at the Davidson Union Hospital. His mother had originally come from Vernon Bridge, Prince Edward Island to the Lothian district to teach school. His father, Albert, had come from Mineral Point, Wisconsin to farm with his two brothers.
Dad was predeceased by his father, Albert (1970); his mother, Frances (1978); his sister, Doris (1949) and his brothers, Jim (1966), Bill (1992) and Joe (2006).
Dad took his schooling at Pickwick, Kohls, Kent and Davidson schools. He later attended the University of Saskatchewan, graduating from the School of Vocational Agriculture in the mid 1940s.
As a youth, he belonged to the Davidson 4-H Grain Club and would talk about attending exhibition week in Saskatoon – the only holiday he really got as a farm boy!
After university, dad worked at a variety of winter-related jobs. He taught short farming courses for the University of Saskatchewan Youth Training Schools in Kamsack and Canora. He worked as a meat cutter at the Davidson Co-op and for a winter at the North Battleford Hospital.
He was community minded and, where possible, believed in contributing to Davidson and district as well as buying locally and fairly from all the businesses. From 1969 to 1975 he served as a trustee and later as the chairman on the Davidson School Unit board. He was also a counsellor for the Rural Municipality of Arm River from 1978 to 1981. Dad even coached a hockey team when no one else could be found and he knew nothing about hockey let alone skating! … he even went on to doing it again for a second year! He would be out on the ice with his boots helping the kids.
Dad was a faithful church attendee and contributed tirelessly to church projects such as building the Catholic Church (1957), as well as being on church council. He was a 50-year founding member of the Davidson Knights of Columbus.
In April of 1953, Grandpa married Berne Blachford of Ardath, Sask., a nurse who had come to Davidson. They were married at St. Paul’s Cathedral in Saskatoon. They have three children – Laurie, Jim and Denise.
Dad farmed for more than 60 years in the Kent district. Farming was his pride and joy along with his farmyard with the many trees that were planted.
He saw many changes in farming during his lifetime, remembering farming with horses and binders to stooking sheaves and, when he retired, commenting on how the elevators had become too big for his one-ton Ford truck.
Dad raised livestock, from chickens to pigs to cattle. He was not afraid to experiment with different crop varieties from sunflowers, canola to chick peas as well as the regular grain varieties.
When Laurie and Jim went off to university, dad got rid of the remaining livestock and began to write insurance for Sun Life Assurance, which he did for over 25 years. Dad attained the highly coveted designation of CLU – Chartered Life Underwriter.
Winter vacations became an annual thing for a few years with trips to Hawaii, Mexico, Cancun and Jamaica. In later years he was content just to visit at Kelowna with family. He truly enjoyed his grandchildren Kelly, Robbie and Kiel.
Grandpa never really talked about the old days, but occasionally a story or two would slip out. He talked of his dad having to hide Christmas presents in a pail deep in a grain bin because his mother was so curious. If the presents were not hidden, his mother would unwrap, peek and rewrap the gifts!
He talked about a heavy hailstorm that he and his brother Bill endured while picking rocks as kids. Both he and Bill turned the horses loose, then hid under the wagon until the storm passed.
He talked about living on the Speedie farm and his mother not liking it there because of the hobos coming off the train tracks. He talked about living on the Benty farm (the old Bud and Bea Prpick farm) and recalled the wagon loads of drought-stricken families passing by on their move to northern Saskatchewan during the 1930s.
And of course, there was always mention made about walking to school uphill both ways!
Farming was always in his blood. He always tried to instill a strong work ethic into his children – telling them that if you farmed right you worked from dawn to dusk and that you had to farm it “like a garden”! He even talked about planting garden by the light of a lantern! Dad made sure you always carried a pocket knife because you could always use the knife to cut rope in order to bind things together, and in total desperation if things did not always work you could always “give it the hammer”!
Dad’s kids never quite bought into all his stories because he usually took one or two naps or “siestas” as he liked to call them throughout the day. Only in later years did they find out what this was all about. Apparently the horses could not work from dusk to dawn. They needed to be fed and watered and they needed rest too, thus explaining the reason for his frequent “siestas”.
Dad always enjoyed his annual fishing trip north after seeding with his fishing buddies George Siefert, Minard Obrigewitsch and Maurice Merkosky.
He always had a “sweet tooth” – not that he ever admitted it. In later years that “sweet tooth” would reappear over and over again even when he wore dentures!
In his later years, one of the things dad did was apply for his American citizenship status, something that he proudly maintained until the end.
He lived his entire 89-and-a-half years at Davidson and although he talked much about retiring elsewhere he was quite content living with the people and the place that was truly familiar to him. His last year was spent at the Davidson Health Care Centre where he received excellent, tireless care by the staff.
Bob is survived by his wife Berne, children Laurie, Jim (Allison), Denise (Lonnie); brother Doug (Inez) and one aunt, Helen Sullivan. He is fondly remembered by his three grandchildren, Kelly (Kenny), Rob (Sharmayne), Kiel and extended family Josh, Melissa and Mykaila and his great-grandchildren, Blake, Nolan, Evhan and Kacie Allan as well as his many in-laws and cousins both in Canada and the United States.
