Brother Robert Ben Schmidt

Robert Ben Schmidt History

Bob was born in Spokane, Washington to Benjamin Gustav Schmidt and Alma Bertha Rich.  I believe that Bob was born in Grandma Rich's home on 12th Avenue in Spokane, as I was, with the doctor coming to her home for the delivery, since that was common at that time, and less costly than going to a hospital.  Ben would have been working for the Northern Pacific Railway at that time, and with a home delivery, there was not the concern of him getting home in time to take Alma to the hospital.

Ben had been farming in the Spokane Valley, and had also worked at the Early Dawn Dairy.  After that, he was hired on to the Northern Pacific Railway as a railway clerk.  Most of his railroad career, he worked at a way station outside of the Kaiser Aluminum Rolling Mill in Trentwood.  The office was a pair of cabooses that had been set on a siding above the railroad tracks.  His job involved doing the "way bills" for the shipments that were coming out of the Kaiser plant, and making sure that the railroad cars had the proper documentation, and were headed for the correct place.

Bob and Helen and I got our first taste of work growing up with a farming family.  Our Dad always had a family garden, in addition to acreage which he farmed at times, notably a number of acres where he grew cucumbers to be used in making pickles.  That turned out to be a disaster, when the person that was supposed to make the pickles used the wrong kind of salt.  He used “iodized salt” which is the salt used for cooking and table use.  The iodized salt turned the pickles soft, and they all had to be dumped.  Many family members had worked in the fields to harvest the crop, including Mama. The work that the three of us did was the weeding and picking in the family garden, which was extensive.  That garden provided all of the vegetables for the year, much of which was canned for winter use.

Later on, when Daddy started building houses, Bob and I had the job of picking up the scrap lumber, and sweeping up the sawdust.  That later grew into driving nails, after he had cut and fit the lumber in place.  Rocks needed to be raked up, since the ground was loaded with small rocks that needed to be cleared where the lawn was to be planted.  The rocks went into the driveway area, by wheel barrow.  I did a lot of painting during junior high school, including the window frames and the screen frames.

In our teen years, Grandpa Schmidt hired Bob and I to carry the corn out of the field in “gunny sacks”.  Actually, Bob did the carrying when we worked together, and I loaded the sacks with corn.  I was not big enough to do the carrying at that time.  We also carried cantelopes from the field to the house where Grandpa packed them in the cases to take to market. He paid us 50 cents an hour, which we considered good pay.

Daddy's home building meant that we moved at least once a year during our school years.  We would live in one home while he was building the next one, then the first one would be sold, and we moved into the newly completed one.  Sometimes, we needed to move before the new one was completely finished.  That was the  case for the house we moved into when I started school.  We moved into the basement while the floor above was just the under layment, and the sawdust drifted down into the basement.  Fortunately, all of the moves were within one school district, so we didn't have to change schools all the way from "grade school" (elementary school today), through junior high and high school.

While we lived at the “motel” on Sprague Avenue in Opportunity, Bob and I sometimes were asked to work at the lumber yard next door.  We were paid the “huge salary” of 50 cents an hour, to do some relatively hard physical work, unloading presto logs, sheetrock, and coal from the railroad cars near Dishman.  We unloaded it from the rail cars, and loaded it into a truck, which we drove back to the lumber yard, then unloaded it into storage.  Sometimes we even made deliveries to the customers, loading the truck out of the storage yard, then unloading it for the customer at their home or worksite.

During junior high and high school, Bob had a job with a local cabinet maker.  Bob learned to use the power tools, and some of the fine detail woodwork that went into building cabinets.  He had the additional benefit of going fishing with his boss to local lakes in both Washington and Idaho.  That is where, I believe, he started his love with boating and fishing.  We previously had a few fishing trips with Daddy, with only minimal success.  We had also boated and fished when we had one summer at Newman Lake while Daddy finished construction of our next  house—and did his job at the railroad.   I think that was the house at Fourth and McDonald, which was only partially finished when we moved in. We lived in the basement with sawdust drifting down on us, before it was actually completed.

When the time came for Bob to fill out his draft papers, it was determined that he had a heart murmur.  That was good and bad.  Bad for his future health, but not a particular concern at the time.  Good because it meant that he was not considered healthy enough to be drafted, and did not have to serve in the armed forces during the Korean War.

One of the ministers at the North American Baptist Church on Arthur Street in Spokane which we "grew up in", was Walter Berkan who was married to Hermina Kramer.  Hermina had a sister, Arlis, who came out from George, Iowa to spend a summer with Walter and Hermina.  She later came back to Spokane to take nurses training.  She and Bob were married and had three children, Terri, Kevin, and Brian.

After graduating from Central Valley High School, Bob got a job at Appleway Chevrolet in Dishman.  That is where he learned the auto parts business.  There was some difficulty with the management there, with Bob passed over for promotions, and he left for a better situation.

I believe he was unemployed for a while after leaving Appleway Chevrolet.  That was when he went back to Iowa to work for Arlis’ Dad, who was a professional house painter.  Her Dad was a European trained painter, and insisted that the only way to properly paint a house was with a brush, working the paint into the wood thoroughly by hand.  That temporarily kept the family income going.  Arlis was also working as a nurse in Spokane (at Deconnes Hospital) during that time period.

Eventually, he got a position at Clay and Gable Auto Parts, and was very successful while there due to his knowledge of auto parts.  In addition to selling the parts, Bob could diagnose the car’s problems, and tell the customers what parts they needed, and even how to install them.  He became the parts manager and was well regarded for his knowledge and people skills.

I believe that the owners of Clay and Gable retired, and Bob went on to a very successful career as an instructor at Spokane Community College for parts marketing.  He was there for many years, and highly respected for his work.  When he retired, he took his retirement as an Annuity providing lifetime income.  That turned out to be an excellent decision financially.

After retirement, he had more time to spend with his growing family, working on his favorite toy, the red 1968 Chevrolet Malibu convertible, his boats, fishing, water skiing, and enjoying his children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren.

Over the years, Bob developed heart issues beyond just a heart murmur and had two heart valve replacement surgeries.  He recovered well after both surgeries, but eventually the valves began to fail and his health deteriorated.  He passed away in July 2019.