Robert Lambert Schmidt

Robert Lambert Schmidt, otherwise known as Bob, was born on September 14, 1940 in the Sayre, OK hospital, the closest hospital near his family’s home in the Cheyenne & Strong City area of far northwestern Oklahoma. He died at the age of 82 on March 6th, 2023 after breaking his hip two months earlier and never fully recovering from that injury. He was the firstborn of 4 children. His parents and grandparents were farmers & merchants in the Strong City area and his Schmidt grandparents were the owners of the hotel in downtown Cheyenne, OK, the county seat of Roger Mills County, OK. His parents, John and Sally Schmidt, then left western Oklahoma and moved their young family to Bethany, OK in 1947 and never moved again. Bethany being a very conservative town, suited the values of the Schmidts and helped shape Robert’s character and personality.

Robert attended Bethany schools and graduated from Bethany High School in 1958. A good student, receiving awards in Honor Society. He also played the French Horn in the Bethany marching band for 3 years. He loved shop and journalism classes. After HS graduation, he went to OSU for 2 years but decided to leave college and pursue his education at the vo tech school for Basic Mechanical Auto Training. And then later went on to the General Motors / Buick Air Conditioner School.

Robert had always loved cars and mechanics in general. He had grown up working on them and other mechanical things. He was always helping others and his brother Warren and sisters Mary & Betty with their car problems also. He worked as a auto mechanic for T.G. & Y for a number of years and later became a talented HVAC (Heating and Air Conditioning) technician from which he made his living for the latter majority of his work life. He retired in 2003.

In 1961 Robert and his friends became involved in the stock car races at the OKC fairgrounds on the ¼ mile dirt track there. So on Friday nights Robert, also known as Bob, and his buddies headed for the fairgrounds to race stockcars. Don’t know if Bob ever drove stockcars himself, I think that was done by Clyde Kincaid, but he was a great mechanic and good friend to have in the pit crew and for his moral support.

Robert met, courted and married the love of his life, Betty Ruth Klemme, in 1967 and they lived their lives together until her death on February 9th, 2016. They had been married for 48 years and enjoyed country music, gardening, fishing, car shows, stock car races, traveling, many friends from church and work and their two pekinese dogs & Bobo, their black lab, who were like their children. Robert and Betty Ruth never had any children from their marriage, but Betty had a daughter from a previous marriage, Peggy Hendricks, And she had 2 daughters, Tammy and Misty who currently have young families living in Texas.

Loving nature, the outdoors and fishing, Bob and Betty bought a cabin at Cedar Lake, near Hinton, OK, where, for many years, they loved relaxing on the weekends after a hard week of work.

Living most of their working lives together in the OKC area, when they retired they moved to Kingston, OK near lake Texoma for a period of 5 years during which time they bought a travel trailer and traveled extensively in the Arizona and New Mexico area. Eventually they bought a vacation home in Quartzite, AZ. They spent the winters there with other “snowbirds” which they enjoyed immensely for several years. They enjoyed the warmer climate, rockhounding, and get togethers with other retirees in the same motor home vacation park. The met many new friends and loved the time spent with them. After a few years, they sold their vacation home and their home in Kingston, OK and returned to the OKC area and bought a home in Midwest City, OK where they remained until the end of their lives.

Robert was a quiet, reserved man who almost never raised his voice in anger towards anyone his entire life. He and his wife Betty were known to say that they had never had an argument during their entire marriage, which is almost unbelievable in any marriage. They each had their roles together that complemented their personalities perfectly. They were very happy together. They lived their unassuming lives without fanfare, very privately and with high moral values. They were well liked and loved by most all who knew them. They never imposed on anyone and always held up their end of any bargain or responsibility they took on or that fell on them to handle. In short, they were GOOD people and Robert was a very good man and husband.

Robert was predeceased by his paternal grandparents, Robert & Meta Schmidt and his maternal grandparents, Lambert F. and Ethel Holladay; his parents, John W. Schmidt and Sally Schmidt of Bethany, OK, his brother in law, Don Romine, of OKC, and his loving wife of 48 years, Betty Ruth Schmidt. He is survived by his brother Warren Schmidt and wife Brenda of Rodeo, NM, his sister. Mary Romine, widowed, of OKC, and his youngest sister, Betty Mason and husband, Brad, of Edmond, OK. He is also survived by his step daughter, Peggy Hendricks and her two daughters, Tammy and Misty (his step granddaughters) and their husbands & children, in the Dallas, TX area; and his niece, Jill Frost and her husband, Jason and her 3 children, Kaden, Olivia & Samuel, of Guthrie, OK; and nephew, Darin Troutman and his wife Kim, and their 3 boys, Jason, Blake & Chance, of OKC. And a host of step nephews, the Romine men and their families of OKC.

Reaching the age of 82, many of Robert and Betty’s friends have passed away previously and will honor Roberts earthly death as his soul takes its place with God and his savior, Jesus Christ and his departed friends in heaven, in his new, healthy body & mind. At peace.

About the best we can say about any man or woman’s life is that they were honorable, loving and giving, trustworthy and a credit to their family and country and to mankind, in their own way, big or small, and that they will be missed by those that knew them during their life.

Robert, we honor you, we love you, and we will miss you and your sweet quiet smile, until we meet again, in heaven. Amen.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.billmerrittfuneralservice.com for the Schmidt family.