Helen Mellon Schmidt

11/04/1914 - 09/19/2007

Helen Mellon Schmidt, 92, of Ligonier, died Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2007. She was born Nov. 4, 1914, the daughter of Thomas A. Mellon and Helen Wightman Mellon. She is survived by her daughter, Helen S. Claire, of Washington, D.C.; a son, Thomas Mellon Schmidt, of Pittsburgh and St. Augustine, Fla.; four grandchildren, Elizabeth Schmidt, of Philadelphia, Helen Schmidt Campmann, of Putney, Vt., Josie Schmidt, of Portland, Ore., and Mark Andrew Claire, of Seattle, Wash.; and two great-grandchildren. Her husband of 64 years, Adolph W. Schmidt, died in 2000. She served as a Navy decoder in World War II and as her husband's hostess when he was the United States ambassador to Canada from 1969 to 1975. She was a volunteer at Powdermill Nature Reserve, near Ligonier, and a trustee of the Joseph Campbell Foundation. She was also a member of the Rolling Rock Club and Hunt and the Pittsburgh Golf Club. The family will receive friends from 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 28, at the SNYDER FUNERAL HOME INC. & CREMATORY, Bell and East Church streets, Ligonier, and from 1 to 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 29, in the parlor of Shadyside Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, followed by a service in the chapel and a private burial in Allegheny Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Carnegie Museum of Natural History and the National Aviary. Elizabeth Snyder Bloom, funeral director.