Another classmate has left our community of KHS friends.

Thank you to Bob O'Neill for alerting me to the passing on September 28th, 2019 of our classmate John Harris.  While I did not know John at KHS, and he did not participate in our reunion activities over the years, Bob and he, and others, were friends during and after KHS.  John, Bob and Art Stout all shared the wonderful train hobby that Bob still follows passionately to this day.  After graduation Mr. Stout took Bob and John on a trip to see a particular special train exhibit.  John held an electrical engineering degree and worked for an insurance company, at least part of the time inspecting mining operations in the US Southwest.  He had a van and two motorcycles which he used to travel the country, using the cycles to access hard to navigate places he needed to inspect.  John died of cancer peacefully in his sleep in the hospital, having also suffered COPD for some time.  He lived at 1209 Lockett Road when we graduated, perhaps some of you remember him. He was living in Kirkwood when he died. He earned a Gold K, so obviously he was a good student!!  May he rest in peace.

GARY SCHMIDT ESQ. HONORED BY WESTMINSTER COLLEGE

Ladies and gentlemen, I am so pleased to announce the following:

Congratulations to the 2019 Westminster College Athletic Hall of Fame inductees

The following alumni will be honored during Homecoming Weekend:

Andrew Jett ’12
Val Leppert ’05
Chris Marshall ’03
Kent Mueller ’62 SAE
Gary Schmidt ’69 KA 
Jamie Vargas

 

 

Retired Judge Schmidt and I became friends after high school through a number of connections.  He had an amazing career as a lawyer and judge and then as a corporate attorney for the state of Missouri.  He had an amazing career as a high school athlete and as a collegiate athlete.  I was very proud to sponsor him for the KHS Alumni Hall of Fame.  Gary is a Viet Nam Veteran who was injured and continues with health issues arising from that service.  Gary is a wonderful father, retired gentleman doing good things for friends, family and often strangers.  He has been an amazing friend to me through the proverbial 'thick and thin', often the thick.  

Please type SCHMIDT into the search box here and see the other articles I've posted about Gary over the past few years.  I don't want to repeat and repeat at risk of being unseemly, however, I will say one thing that isn't in the other posts, Gary is the only man in the history of Westminster College to have been named to the list of Distinguished Alumni AND the Athletic Hall of Fame.  He was also awarded the Distinguished American Jurist Award some years back, the year after that award went to the late Anton Scalia.  I think we need not say more about Gary's contributions to our legal community over a long span of years.

I am so proud to call Gary my friend and to remind us all that he is an excellent example of what we Kirkwood High School alumni have accomplished in our lives often because of our superb Kirkwood educational and nurturing background.  

 

WAY TO GO GARY!!!  THANK YOU FOR HELPING MAKE KHS65 LOOK GREAT!