- Date Of Birth: October 15, 1943
- Date Of Death: May 30, 2015
- State: Idaho
William (Bill) E. Schmidt, 71, of Nezperce, passed away suddenly from pancreatic cancer on May 30th, 2015 and is now with his beautiful wife, Jan and daughter, Jill in Heaven. Bill was born Oct. 15th, 1943 to Alfred & Martha Schmidt in Fremont, Nebraska. He graduated from Fremont, Nebraska in 1961 and enlisted into the U.S. Army that same year. Bill later moved to Denver, Colorado where he went to work for Coors Brewing Co. He met Janice Sherman on a blind date, and they were married on July 13, 1963, in Wheatridge, Colorado.
He enjoyed hiking, fishing, camping and jeeping in the beautiful Colorado Rockies. Many weekends were spent with the family deep in the forest. In 1974 the family moved to Sandpoint, Idaho for a career change. They enjoyed more back roads jeeping and fishing.
A year later they moved to Kamiah, where Bill and Jan both went to work for Bill’s brother Jim in the grocery business. In 1977 the family moved to Nezperce and helped open a grocery store. They bought the store in 1980 and operated it for many years.
In the 1990’s he went to work for NH3, now Primeland as a fertilizer applicator, and retired from there. Bill enjoyed doing seasonal roadside spraying for several different highway districts.
He was very active in the Nezperce City Council, Nezperce Lions Club and Nezperce Historical Society Museum. He was involved in the Nezperce SRO drama club for many years. He was also a local Lewis & Clark Historian.
In his years in Nezperce, Bill and his family enjoyed skiing, fishing, camping, 4-wheeling and rafting in Idaho’s rivers, the Selway being his favorite. He enjoyed site seeing trips all around the country. Bill also enjoyed gardening and bird watching and was a great cook.
