Obit: Schmidt, Theodore (1886 - 1945)

Contact: Stan

Surnames: Schmidt, Hildensperger, Priem, Nelsen

----Sources: Colby Phonograph (Colby, Clark County, Wis.) 08/23/1945

Schmidt, Theodore (5 July 1886 - 19 Aug. 1945)

A heart attack, suffered while swimming in the Big Eau Pleine river at Cherokee, Wisconsin, Park Sunday afternoon at 3:00 o’clock caused the death of Theodore Schmidt, age 59, a farmer living in the town of Deer Creek, near Stetsonville, Wis.

That death was due to natural causes and not the result of drowning, although the victim’s body was not recovered for more than an hour after it disappeared in the river, was announced by John Hildensperger, acting Marathon county coroner.

Schmidt was said to have decided to go swimming in an effort to find relief from the high temperatures prevailing during the afternoon while he and other members of his family were attending a picnic at the park.

Schmidt, who was reported to have been an excellent swimmer, was observed from the bank as he entered the water, Hildensperger said, by Carl Priem and Ronald Nelsen, Colby, Wis. They told the coroner that Schmidt waded into the river until the water reached his chest, then struck out rapidly towards the middle of the stream.

The victim was swimming strongly, the coroner said he was told, when he sank suddenly in about 15 feet of water. Witnesses told the coroner there was no struggle.

Recovery of the body was not made until nearly 4:30 o’clock, when it was brought to the surface by dragging the river. Wausau dragging equipment, supplied with grappling hooks, was en-route to the scene at the time the body was found.

Hildensperger said there would be no inquest.

Schmidt was a life-long resident of the vicinity of Stetsonville. He was born in the town of Deer Creek on July 5, 1886. The body was removed to the Fuchsgruber funeral parlors at Dorchester, Wis.