JL was first and foremost a Christ-follower. He made his living as a reporter, editor and freelancer for more than 40 years, covering Wounded Knee (where he was shot at while flying over the area), presidents, the Jim Brady shooting aftermath (Ronald Reagan’s White House press secretary whose mother lived in Centralia, IL), and the crash of United Flight 232 in Sioux City. He covered many important national events as a news correspondent at the Associated Press in Illinois and Nebraska. He worked at the Lincoln Star, and at newspapers in Ogallala, Scottsbluff, Peru, NE, and Peoria, IL.
JL enjoyed encore careers in downtown redevelopment (Nebraska Main Street), historic preservation (Heritage Nebraska), and as the founding director-curator of the Classic Car Collection in Kearney, his dream job. He also wrote a weekly column on state government called “Capitol View” for the Nebraska Press Association, and edited the newsletter for the Mari Sandoz society.
He won many awards for his secular work, but it was his relationship with Jesus that brought him the greatest joy. He was a deacon, Sunday School teacher, recovery group leader, and chair/member of numerous church boards and committees. He and Pamela began a Celebrate Recovery ministry that is still bearing fruit today, with others carrying the torch. He loved teaching about forgiveness and had a heart for people who had hurts, hang-ups and habits. He prayed out loud from his hospital bed for hospital staff, friends and family until the very end.
He was very creative, and drew designs on his sons’ lunch sacks for years, much to the delight of their lunchmates and even some teachers. He was a gifted story teller.
JL was the designated family remember-er, nearly always knowing where something we needed could be found. His memory of events and dates in the past was legendary. JL could tell you exactly what type of vehicle someone drove and had an encyclopedic knowledge of old cars. He was accused more than once of reading the information from Wikipedia! You definitely wanted him on your Trivia team.
He was not a cat person in the beginning, but he soon developed a love of cats. Lately, he could be found every morning doing his quiet time with Java contentedly purring on his lap. Other beloved cats enjoyed the same.
He loved his family dearly and was so proud of them. He prayed daily for each one of them by name.
He drove his sons on their early morning paper route for years, creating many fond memories of paper-route songs, plus teaching them to work hard and save and spend their earnings.
JL married Pamela Ury Schmidt June 14, 1975, in North Platte. They met on her first newspaper job at Maverick Media in Syracuse, and he was fond of saying that they went into the darkroom to see what would develop.
He is survived by his wife, sons Ryan (Meghan) Schmidt and Tyler Schmidt of Lincoln; sister Yvonne Alexander of Denver; granddaughters Annika Bowman of North Platte and Lennon Layne Schmidt of Lincoln. Preceded in death by parents Leslie and Esther Schmidt; brother Roger; and sister Barbara Estergard of Nixa, Missouri.
Private burial in Chapman, NE cemetery.
Celebration of life: Saturday, May 4, 10:30 a.m. Southview Baptist Church, 3434 S 13th St., lunch reception following. lincolnfh.com
The service will be livestreamed starting at 10:25 at https://www.youtube.com/@SouthviewLNK/streams
In lieu of flowers, memorials go to Southview Baptist Church for later designation to recovery ministries.
-30- *
*Reporters in the newspaper business would end a story with -30- to indicate no more information was to follow. This likely dates to the days of the telegraph around the American Civil War. The number 30 was used as the shorthand for “end” or “no more” in Western Union's “92 Code,” produced in 1859. On newspapers, it told the typesetters that this was the end of the story. Although JL’s story on earth is now over, his story in heaven has only begun.
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