By HARRY FRANKLIN
The State
Victor F. “Vic” Schmidt, known as a big-hearted man who looked after his people in the Columbus Fire & Emergency Medical Services, died at his home Saturday. He was 56.
“When he was a battalion chief in the field, he really looked after the people that worked under him in Battalion 1,” said Chief of Training Robert M. “Bob” Stone. “Even as a captain at Station 6 he was that way, really looking after his people. One year as battalion chief, he held a Christmas party where he lived and invited the whole battalion to come and bring their families.”
Schmidt retired on Oct. 31, 2004, as deputy chief of Columbus Fire & EMS. He had battled a brain tumor for several weeks, recently undergoing surgery at The Medical Center.
Dedicated to work
While in The Medical Center fighting for his life, Schmidt told friends and family that three things could happen: God could heal him outright; God could use doctors to help heal him; or God could heal him by taking him home to Heaven to join his wife, Pat Rowland Schmidt. He said any of those solutions would be fine with him.
While serving as an administration chief, one of Schmidt’s duties was to order fire trucks, because he was involved with the department budget, Stone recalls.
“He ordered a truck that is now with Squad 11,” Stone said. “It kind of looks like a Coca-Cola truck. It has a lot of compartments on it to hold a lot of equipment. If it wasn’t red, it would actually pass for a Coca-Cola truck. He took a lot of kidding about that, that he ordered the first Coca-Cola truck for the department. It kind of irritated him for a while, but he started laughing about it and accepted it. He really was a tender-hearted person. He always cared for the people he worked with.”
“He was a great person to work with,” said Fire Marshal Rick Lang. “His character was at the top -- his integrity. He stood for everything that was right. I knew him over 20 years and went to church with him.”
Deputy Chief David Starling, who succeeded Schmidt as deputy chief for administration, called Schmidt “a dear friend who loved the Fire & EMS Department. He was always willing to help anybody. Anything he was called upon to do, he volunteered for it. He carried on his wife, Pat’s, work with the Valley Rescue Mission as much as he could. He always tried to keep that vision she had alive. He was loved by everybody in the department. This is a terrible blow to the department and the whole community.”
Schmidt, a product of a North Dakota farm family, was born in Rugby, N.D., on March 11, 1949, and had seven surviving brothers and two sisters.
He served some 30 years with Columbus Fire & EMS, starting as a firefighter on Aug. 24, 1974. He was a decorated Vietnam War veteran of the U.S. Army, leaving the service with the rank of sergeant. He came to Columbus from Florida, where he became a certified firefighter on Nov. 16, 1973. He was promoted through the ranks to fire sergeant on Oct. 13, 1979; fire lieutenant on Nov. 18, 1989; and to fire captain on May 9, 1992, over the B Squad at Station 6. He worked with both HAZMAT and as ladder captain and was in charge of the B Squad.
Funeral Wednesday
He was promoted to field battalion chief on July 29, 1995. He received his bachelor of science degree from Troy State University on July 1, 1996, then was promoted to deputy chief on Nov. 16, 1996, moving to department operations chief and then back to deputy chief of administration when he retired.
Schmidt was preceded in death by his parents, Frank and Magdalen Schmidt. Survivors include his son and daughter-in-law, Mark and Sandra Schmidt of Warrenton, Va.; six brothers, Dan (Coleen) Schmidt, Rapid City, S.D., Richard Schmidt, Bismarck, N.D., Edward Schmidt, Wildon, N.D., Patrick (Karen) Schmidt, Burlington, N.D., Gerald Schmidt, Mandan, N.D., Jeffery (Nancy) Schmidt, Minot, N.D.; two sisters, Ali (Fred) Coleman, Rapid City, S.D., and Debora (Danny) Seright, Towner, N.D.; and three grandchildren.
The funeral will be 11 a.m. Wednesday at Edgewood Baptist Church, with the Rev. Andy Merritt and the Rev. David Howle officiating, according to Striffler-Hamby Mortuary, Macon Road. Burial with full firefighter honors will follow in Parkhill Cemetery.
The family will receive friends from 5-8 p.m. tonight at the funeral home.