Dick Schmidt's Home Page
Dick Schmidt
This is my wife, the former Mary Pickard. We were married July 21, 2001 in Michigan. Mary is a teacher educator at East Carolina University in Greenville, NC.
Here is our very well trained and pampered Yorkie, Alex!
I was born the oldest of 4 brothers and 1 sister in Snover, Michigan. We were raised on a dairy and crop farm in Sanilac County located in Michigan's "Thumb Area".
Dad's early tractors were Minneapolis-Moline as they had a hand clutch and were easy for us kids to operate.
After graduating Sandusky High School I served in the U.S. Navy as a radioman both overseas and aboard ship.
I spent 18 months on the Island of Malta with Fasron (Special) 201. While there I also served on the islands of Sardinia and Crete.
We had a squadron of P2V-5 or P2V-7 antisubmarine patrol bombers and WV-2 airborne early warning aircraft that patrolled the Mediterranean area.
Here is a site by Bill Gusky which describes life on Malta and with Fasron (Special) 201
I spent 6 weeks on the USS Alameda County AVB1 (Advanced Base Ship) while on a NATO exercise on the island of Sardinia. She used to be a LST (Landing Ship Tank)
I later was sent to the USS Tallahatchie County AVB2 (also a former LST) when President Eisenhower authorized Operation Blue Bat and sent troops into Beirut, Lebanon in July 1958. We were deployed here in Souda Bay, Crete as part of the Sixth Fleet. They sent 24 plane loads of Marines in and during their flight they picked me up on Malta and dropped me on Crete.
After my tour in Malta I then went aboard the U.S.S. Hissem DER400 a radar picket ship. We patrolled the North Atlantic between Newfoundland and the Azores Islands. On that assignment along with visiting St. Johns, Newfoundland we also visited Lisbon, Portugal and Vigo, Spain
I lived many years in the Sandusky, Michigan area and served on the Sandusky City Council, Sandusky School Board and Elmer Township Board.
I am a member of American Historical Society of Germans From Russia (AHSGR) as my Grandpa and Grandma Schmidt immigrated from Russia in 1911.
I have some pictures and information on some of my ancestors on a WebPage.
In my spare time I enjoy gardening, wine making (blackberry, elderberry, peach, strawberry, dandelion and rhubarb), walking and woodworking.
I have 2 married sons and 5 grandchildren.
We bought a San Juan 21 sailboat in 2003 in honor of our second wedding anniversary and learned to sail on Lake Coeur d'Alene when we lived in Idaho.
We now live in North Carolina and recently bought a Catalina 27 which gives us more room inside and a few more luxuries like hot & cold running water. We are learning how to handle her and have plans for trips along the east coast and Atlantic Intra Coastal Waterway.
In 1996 between Christmas and New Years I was able to visit Paris as my son, Bob,
and his family were on assignment there. We visited the Louvre Museum
where I fulfilled a lifelong dream of seeing the Mona Lisa.
Some favorite websites I use are:
Mapquest - a site to find directions and distances from one point to another.
Measurement conversion site converting metric/imperial/US measurements.
Telephone Prefix Locator - Locate telephone number prefixes in U.S./Canada/Caribbean
The DRUDGE REPORT - the leading edge of news and a connection to many other news sites.