Donald LeRoy Schmidt

Donald LeRoy Schmidt, 81, of Midland, died Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013, at MidMichigan Medical Center from complications of Parkinson's disease. Don was born on Sept. 10, 1931, in Midvale, Utah, the son of Charles and Ella (Dahl) Schmidt.

He lived much of his childhood in rural Sanpete County, Utah, where he grew up during the great depression. He spent his time outdoors playing with spiders and insects, naming them, breeding them and experimenting with them. This began his life-long interest and love with science. He attended the University of Utah, graduating with a bachelor's degree in 1950. He served a short stint in the Army Reserves Officers Training Corps and then served a two-year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon) in Oregon, Washington and Idaho. After his mission he completed a basic training program for the Air Force. As the Korean War had ended, he was then placed in the Air Force inactive reserves. He returned to the University of Utah and earned his Ph.D in chemistry in 1962 and moved to Midland to work in basic research at The Dow Chemical Co., where he became a senior research scientist. His career lasted over 39 years and during that time he was granted 85 patents and wrote 43 peer-reviewed scientific publications. Three of his inventions earned I-R 100 awards, which are given to the 1OO most significant new technical products of their year by Industrial Research Inc. He also received an American Chemical Society Arthur K. Doolittle Award and two awards from the local Scientific Research Society of America (Midland and Mt. Pleasant Area).

On October 18, 1963, he and the former Julia Anne Ford were married in the Salt Lake City Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Together they enjoyed almost 50 years of a wonderful marriage. Don's inventive skills spilled over into his life-long hobby; he was a fly fisherman and charter member of the Midland Leon P. Martuch chapter of Trout Unlimited. He invented a special pre-tied knot for tying flies and co-authored an article for Field and Stream on how to tie fishing knots. He was also artistic and musical, playing the piano by ear and composing many of his own songs. Deeply religious, he was always willing to serve his church and loved to teach people of all ages about the Mormon Church. He taught Sunday school classes and fascinated his young students by bringing in his experiments, inventing games and writing stories they would act out and share with other age groups.

In addition to his wife, Julia, he is survived by their three sons and 11 grandchildren, Dale C. (Julie) Schmidt of Midland and their children Kyler, Brenden and Josiah; Daniel G. (Linda) Schmidt of Cheyenne, Wyo. and their children Charles, Ellie and Gordon and Andrew D. (Cindy) Schmidt of American Fork, Utah and their children, Emma, Nathan, Matthew, Elizabeth and Isaac. He is also survived by his brother, Dr. C. DuWayne (Alice) Schmidt of Salt Lake City, Utah; his brother-in-law, George W. (Felicia) Ford of Salt Lake City, Utah; and seven nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by two grandchildren, Jonah and Eliza.

Funeral services will take place 2 p.m., Saturday, March 2, 2013, from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with Bishop Eric Workman officiating. Interment will be at the Redwood Memorial Cemetery, 6500 S. Redwood Rd., West Jordan, Utah, at 2 p.m. on March 9, 2013. Donald's family will receive friends at the Ware Smith Woolever Funeral Home, 1200 W. Wheeler St., today from 5-8 p.m., and at the church on Saturday from 1 p.m. until time of the service. Those planning an expression of sympathy are asked to consider the Midland County Emergency Food Pantry Network or Humanitarian Services c/o LDS Philanthropies, Joseph Smith Memorial Building, 15 East So. Temple St. #2E, Salt Lake City, UT 84150.