Irvin Marquis Schmitke
Born: July 24, 1936 December 26, 202
Irvin was born only two days short of one year after Mildred. When Irvin was small (about 5), the older boys went to the pond to swim and he went along. Harold was supposed to watch out for him. Since Irvin could not swim and Harold wanted to go where it was deeper, he told Irvin to stay where he could reach the bottom. He also explained how to move the arms and legs to dog paddle if he got too deep. While swimming in the deeper water, Harold looked over and all he could see of Irvin was the back of his head, but Irvin was dog-paddling like crazy. Harold hurried over and pulled him out.
Irvin shared at Arnold’s funeral that Arnold is the one who got hold of the family Bible from where it was kept on a shelf (out of the reach of children) and shared with Otto and Irvin about salvation through Jesus Christ. He also had memories of sneaking out the bedroom window onto the porch roof to sleep when it was too hot indoors in the summer. His dad came in one night and thought they had run away from home. Mildred shared this story: “One day Irvin and I were outside playing when we saw those ‘poor’ cluck hens in a coop. After fetching a pail of water, we stuck the hens head first into the water. If they got out, we let them go. That is, we let them go until Dad caught us. End of game!” In the early 1940’s, Irvin remembered a car coming into the driveway one day and a government man got out. The man told Carl Sr. that he and his family were to be moved to a camp because they were German. Grandpa Carl refused, then walked into the house and got his citizenship papers (he received them for serving in the military in WWI). The man left and no further action was taken.
Irvin served in Germany with the 11th Airborne Division near Augsburg, jumping out of planes and driving the company commander around in a jeep. It was the height of the Cold War. Irvin is quoted in a newspaper article as saying: “Things were pretty tense over there. We were there during the Hungarian Revolt.” Irvin was injured badly in a parachute jump, but did recover over time.
Irvin married Janice Hall on December 25, 1955. They would have three children, Greg, Mark, and Kristi. Irvin worked and retired from his job on the ground for airlines in Thief River Falls and Fargo. For over three decades he was also a Lutheran lay pastor. Irvin and Janice are buried in the Rindall Cemetery in rural Thief River Falls.
