Marian Schmidt

Marian C. Schmidt, 95, died July 3, 2026.

She was born in Topeka, KS, the daughter of Gerald Courtney and Margaret Connors Courtney.   Marian attended Holy Name School and Hayden Catholic High School in Topeka.  In 1953, she married William Schmidt, whom she’d met on a blind date while in college at Mount St. Scholastica in Atchison, KS.  They were married for 62 years, until his death in 2016.

Marian lived most of her adult life in Wichita, KS, where she and William raised four children.

Marian enjoyed books, feeding raisins to “pet” robins, writing, baseball, and researching family history.

Marian fell in love with baseball as a child while attending games of the Topeka Owls with her father and brother.  She taught her own children how to read a box score in the newspaper, to pass this love along.  Marian and William spent many happy evenings at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium cheering on the Wichita Wranglers, sometimes in the company of grandchildren, who became baseball fans as a result.  Marian and William were members of the Wranglers Stampede, supporting the team and hosting Hot Stove League dinners.  Marian’s favorite team in her later life was the Chicago Cubs, the World Series winner at long last in 2016.

Over decades, Marian researched, documented, and then published a family history book with a biographical sketch of each ancestor of her children as far as she could trace.  She accomplished her research with trips to archives around the country, microfilm at libraries, clues from saved family letters, and with the help of distant relatives–some of whom became very close to her heart.  She donated her book to several libraries and was generous sharing her research with relatives who asked for her information.

To the end, Marian was a prolific letter writer.  She cherished her correspondence with relatives and friends near and far.

Health issues kept Marian homebound in her final years.  She deeply appreciated the visits from St. Thomas volunteers who kept her connected to the parish.

Survivors include children, Michael Schmidt of Ames, IA, Joseph Schmidt of Belleville, IL, Catherine (John) Green of Hutchinson, Mary Schmidt of Wichita; 10 grandchildren; and 11 great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her husband William, brother Thomas, and granddaughter Elizabeth Schmidt.

Rosary will be at 7:00pm, Sunday, July 12, 2026, at Downing & Lahey East Mortuary. Funeral Mass will be at 10:00am, Monday, July 13, 2026, at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church.  Grandson Father Benjamin Green will be a celebrant at the mass.

A memorial has been established for Marian at Dear Neighbor Ministries, 1329 S. Bluffview, Wichita, KS 67218– https://dearneighbor.org

Services in care of Downing & Lahey Mortuaries — East Wichita.