Welcome to this memorial site to celebrate the live of Dr. Herman Ernest Schmid Jr, aka "Ernie", who died on 3/11/2021, age 90. We, his family, welcome you and invite you to write your stories, experiences and memories in the Journal section of this site. Ernie, or Dr. Schmid, was a memorable person who enjoyed everyone he was near.
Ernie's celebration of life service, rescheduled twice because of COVID19, is scheduled for Saturday, August 6 at 1:30pm at the Unitarian-Universalist Fellowship of Winston-Salem (www.UUFWS.org).
We all know how much "Ernie" loved living, how much he loved all the things that made up his life - starting with his loving wife Donna Mae Sannes Schmid, to whom he was completely devoted. Donna worked side by side with Ernie in most of their endeavors, yet they each had a strong individual life as well.
He loved and raised four sons. Karl and Randy both died young, at 35 and 58. Herman, 67 and Loren, 65 are both still kicking and appreciated Dad's guidance and practical way of raising kids - always encouraging knowledge, thought, and understanding. And work.
Ernie loved his patients and staff at his medical practice. He stepped into Dr. Robins practice in Pfafftown and later built a building for his practice, the Pine Ridge Medical Practice. This became Senior Care. Dr. Schmid had 10s of thousands of patients and closed his office in 2012 at the age of 83. He greatly respected his staff and credits them for their role in providing excellent patient care. He continued to work in medicine until he was 88.
Ernie and Donna both were very strong supporters of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Winston-Salem since 1960. They supported the freedom of thought and the pursuit of knowledge that characterizes that church as well as the close community and circle of friends they had there. Both have been Presidents of the Fellowship over the years.
Ernie always loved a car trip, or an RV trip, and took his 4 sons, and later in life, his dogs, on trips to visit relatives, particularly Donna's siblings Hans, Ruth and Alice. Donna and Ernie visited regularly in Wisconsin, and many other places to see family including Chicago, Coral Gables and many other places. Ernie and Donna kept close contact with relatives on the Schmid side of the family from his siblings Charles and Rudy. Naturally there are many children all around that Ernie and Donna visited and kept in close contact with throughout the years. They have 6 grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren.
Ernie always had a special relationship with Gardening, Dogs, and Projects. He could build anything, tried to grow everything, and always loved his dogs.
Did we mention that he and Donna founded and ran two furniture stores for 10 years featuring Danish teak furniture of all kinds.
Ernie's lungs degraded in 2020, which puzzled him to no end. "I was doing fine. What started this? Did I get into some mold while exercising in the basement?" You may know he wrote a book, "Your Golden Years, Your Golden Challenge" that essentially was a "How to Live to Be 100" book. He was confounded that he wasn't going to make it as he did everything right. His problems overtook him on March 11, 2021. Wife Donna, who is not ambulatory and has numerous medical conditions, lives at Arbor Acres Retirement Community in Winston-Salem, NC in skilled nursing at Strickland room 803. Her health has improved this year and she had graduated from Hospice Care! Everyone is welcome to visit her, especially in the first half of the day. She misses Ernie dearly and we talk about him quite often. She has enjoyed the blessing of numerous visits from family and friends and I'm sure Ernie would be pleased with her health, her care, and her happiness. Please contact me, son Herman, as needed, at 336-399-3932.
