Rudolph "Rudy" Schmidt

Rudolph John “Rudy” Schmidt, 83, of La Crosse passed away peacefully at his home on Thursday, April 9, 2020 surrounded by his children. He was born September 10, 1936 to the late Casper and Sophie (Heitkamp) Schmidt of LaCrosse. He graduated from Aquinas High School in 1954 and then completed a four-year management and technical program at Western Wisconsin Technical Institute.

Rudy began his life as a family man when he married Mary Ellen Nontelle of La Crosse on June 28, 1958. Soon after, he and his father began building the family home on Irish Hill, working hours on end after a full day of work. He established his life-long roots in this homestead, creating a God’s Country haven not only for his wife and four children but extended family, friends, Girl Scouts and 4-H members. The estate and surrounding area provided recreational opportunities including billiards, swimming, hiking, campfires and exploring.

Every summer, starting in the mid-60s, Rudy took two consecutive weeks of vacation to take his family camping “out west” in a pick-up camper he built himself (and upgraded several times). The first two and last two days of each trip were spent driving so we could truly relax and enjoy many of America’s national treasurers – mountains, oceans, canyons, redwoods, waterfalls, wildlife, and monuments. Being the efficiency expert he was, he created “motor burgers” which cooked in foil on the truck’s manifold while we drove. Other memorable meals included a whole dozen eggs fried in an enormous cast iron pan over the open fire, Rudy’s beef stew made with beer and a use-whatever-we-have-left sandwich: fried Spam on raisin bread toast. Decades of these adventures are recorded in Mary’s “jot-to-jot” notebooks.

All of these childhood memories were made possible because of Rudy’s strong drive and work ethic. His career began right out of high school with eight years as a machinist at Franklin Iron Works before joining Northern States Power Company in April 1963 at French Island as a machinist welder. He was promoted to Assistant Plant Superintendent in 1972 and to Plant Manager in 1974. In September 1980, he began the 16-month project of converting the 34-year old oil-fired unit to burn waste wood instead. He used his practical skills and creative problem-solving to successfully deploy the engineering, equipment and construction plans. Upon its completion in December 1981, the unit was the first wood-burning, fluidized bed commercial power plant in the United States. Starting in 1987, this fluidized bed was used for burning Refused Derived Fuel (RDF), burnable pellets converted from garbage processed at the plant. It was a stinky project but the workers made a point of rescuing any discarded teddy bears to brighten their day. NSP’s publication RDF Conveyor stated, “Rudy Schmidt is a get-the-fingernails-dirty type of manager. He would rather spend his time inside the French Island boilers than in the plant office.” But Rudy was also polished as the leader and was asked to travel around the country speaking on the challenges and benefits of RDF. After nearly 32 years with NSP, Rudy retired on December 31, 1994.

In the early years of retirement, Rudy enjoyed traveling the country in his RV with his beautiful wife, graduating from camping to “glamping.” Many destinations included either NASCAR races or visiting relatives but all involved warmer weather. While at home in Wisconsin, he spent many hours (and years) authentically restoring a black and white 1957 Chevy Bel Aire to the same beauty as his high school ride. After losing his beloved Mary to lung cancer in 2006, life slowed down for Rudy, travel was limited to occasionally visiting his children and his focus shifted to maintaining the family homestead. He acquired Old English Sheepdog Sam as a companion for many years and Labradoodle Simba in the most recent years. Daily life became increasingly difficult as he endured chronic back pain and yet he continued to tackle projects like painting his entire house, reinforcing the pool deck, felling trees and splitting them into firewood. Simple pleasures in his final years were crackling fires in the winter and enjoying the outdoors in the summer. Visits from family, primarily daughter Jeanne, became more frequent to ensure his well-being. We are incredibly grateful that his final moments were pain free and in his own home with family.

Those left to cherish his memory are his four children, Stephen M. of Menomonee Falls, WI.; Susan E. (William) Hinkle of Florence, KY; Jeanne M. Wead of Montgomery, OH and James A. (Valerie) of Mason City, IA.; and six grandchildren, Melissa, Kenny and A.J. Wead, Alex and Ethan Schmidt and Sarah June Hinkle. He is also survived by his brother Edward of LaCrosse. Though Simba will now be an Ohio resident, it is obvious that he deeply misses his human.

He was preceded in death by his parents, his dear wife Mary, an infant daughter Maria Laurel, two brothers and their wives, Walter (Margaret) and Herb (Lucille) and sister-in-law Judy Schmidt.

A private family burial was held on Friday, April 10, 2020 at Catholic Cemetery, La Crosse. Schumacher-Kish Funeral and Cremation Services of La Crosse assisted the family. A Celebration of Life Open House will be held 2-6pm on Saturday, June 27th at Veterans Memorial Park, Shelter #1 in West Salem. Friends and family are also invited to join us at Holy Trinity Catholic Church, 1333 13 ^th Street South, LaCrosse, for the 9:45am Mass on Sunday, June 28th to remember both Rudy and Mary Ellen on what would’ve been their 62nd wedding anniversary. Memorials, if desired, may be made to Aquinas Catholic Schools Foundation.