Paul. J. Schmidt, Navy vet and hard worker, dies at 83

ABOUT 50 YEARS ago, Paul Joseph Schmidt Jr. moved out of Philadelphia to find a better place in which to raise his family.

He found it in Flourtown, where he proceeded to turn his property into a showplace. The man whose family said had a "limitless capacity for hard work" singlehandedly built a barn for his ponies, a carriage house for a daughter, sheds, birdhouses, fences — to name a few of his many additions.

And scattered about the property was his collection of anchors and other Navy memorabilia, echoes of his service with the Navy in the Pacific during World War II.

Paul Schmidt, who helped run the family business, "Caps Auto Mechanics" in Ogontz, for 31 years, and, after his "retirement," went to work as a maintenance mechanic for Springfield Township, Montgomery County, died Tuesday. He was 83.

Paul was born in Philadelphia to Paul and Elizabeth Schmidt and raised in Germantown. He attended St. Benedict's Parochial School, and learned auto mechanics on the job at his family's business.

In 1943, at the age of 17, he got parental permission to join the Navy. For three years he served as a motor machinist 2nd class. Using amphibious landing craft, called "Duck boats," his unit delivered supplies to troops in dangerous battle locations on various islands and in the Philippines.

He endured many days and nights under enemy fire, and until his death, his family said, "carried in his heart his fellow servicemen who never returned home."

His "retirement" from the business lasted only a few days. He went to work for Springfield Township for another 27 years of hard work. He finally retired at the age of 77.

Paul, whose nickname was "Duck," was a guy with a perennial twinkle in his eye, "mixed with warmth and wit," his family said.

"One might say he was a 'character,' yet he was deeply grounded in the kind of character that matters most."

When not working outside the home, he was working in it, or around it. Three of his five children live on contiguous properties on Mill Road, which became the "Schmidt compound."

"When his children were young, he led his family on carriage rides in the Wissahickon Valley, where he drove horse carriages and pony wagons that he restored himself," his family said.

"With his five children in matching Western attire, it was not surprising that the Schmidt family drew a lot of attention — and ribbons — at the annual Wissahickon Day Parade."

He is survived by his wife of 53 years, the former Lorraine Witcoski; four daughters, Sally, Elizabeth English, Paula, and Lorraine Acierno; a son, Paul J. Schmidt III, and eight grandchildren.

Services: Funeral Mass 10:30 a.m. today at St. Genevieve Church, 1225 Bethlehem Pike, Flourtown. Friends may call at 9 a.m.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to Wissahickon Hospice, 150 Monument Road, Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004. *