Edward Franklyn Schmidt, 74, of McFarland, Kansas, died Friday, August
24, 2007, at Stormont-Vail Regional Health Center in Topeka.  He had
been a member of the community since 1976.

Ed was born May 17, 1933, in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of Edward and
Mildred Birth Schmidt.  He attended local schools and graduated in 1951
from Rhodes High School in Cleveland.  He served in the United States
Army during the Korean Conflict.

Ed spent his adult life building organs.  He worked for many different
private collectors all over the country, building and repairing band
organs and other pipe organs.  He took his love for mechanics and music
and combined those into his craft of building instruments.  Ed also
built his own complete band organ.  He was a member of AMICA, an
organization for lovers of automated musical instruments.  Ed was also
a member of St. John Lutheran Church.

He married Evelyn Reuter on June 17, 1962 in South Gate, California.
She survives at their home.  Ed is also survived by a daughter,
Margaret Marquez and her husband, Miguel, Topeka, Kansas; a son,
Stephen Schmidt and his wife, Dinora, Alta Dena, California; a sister,
Joann Green, Laguna Hills, California; three grandchildren, Joanne
Schmidt, Jason Schmidt, Evelyn Lowery and fourteen nieces and nephews.
He was preceded in death by his parents, a sister, Lola Werp and
a granddaughter, Mabel Irene Lowery.

Funeral services will be held at 2:00 p.m., Wednesday, August 29, 2007,
at St. John Lutheran Church in Alma, Kansas.  Reverend Robert Grimm
will be officiating.  Burial and military honors will follow in St.
John Lutheran Cemetery.  Mr. Schmidt will lie-in-state starting at 2:00
p.m., Tuesday, at Campanella-Gentry Funeral Home in Alma, where the
family will greet friends from 7:00 p.m. until 8:30 p.m.  The family
suggests memorial contributions to the St. John Lutheran Music Fund and
those may be sent in care of the funeral home.

Ed was a great person and an excellent rebuilder.  We will all miss him.

Galen Bird