Clarence "Clyde" Schmidt

Clarence “Clyde” Douglas Schmidt, age 72, of Hewitt, Minnesota passed away on April 16, 2023, at Astera Health Hospital in Wadena, Minnesota. Pastor Donald Wagner will officiate the memorial service on Friday, April 28, 2023, at 11:00 a.m. at Karvonen Funeral Home in Wadena, Minnesota with visitation one hour prior to service. The burial will take place at Oak Valley Cemetery in Wrightstown.

Clarence Douglas Schmidt was born on July 14, 1950, in Dickenson, North Dakota. His parents were the late Florian and Mildred (Dukart) Schmidt. Clarence graduated from Verndale High School with the class of 1968. He also attended Wadena Technical College.

Clarence Schmidt and Pam Stevens were united in marriage in 1971 in the St. Frederick’s Church in Verndale. They were married for ten years and were blessed with Samantha.

Clarence married Rita Catherine Ollendick in 1983 and they were married until her passing in 2014. During their life together, they moved to rural Hewitt in 1993 where he made his home until his passing. He spent his last two years extremely happy with his partner Bonita Julius.

He worked as a tool and dye machinist for Homecrest for 42 and a half years before retiring in July of 2020.

Clarence enjoyed a variety of activities including camping, hunting and woodworking. He was a tinkerer who loved working on vehicles, especially old Ford trucks. Clarence was a funny man who was very good at one-liners. He was a music lover and attended WeFest and Moondance. Clyde and Rita owned C&R Archery in Wadena for over a decade. He could do absolutely anything, owned tools of all kinds in his shop and he always knew where they were.

Clarence is preceded in death by his parents Florian and Mildred Schmidt and his wife Rita.

Clarence is survived by his daughter Samantha (Robert) Peterson; siblings Jeri (Steve) Cottrell, Kathie (Terry) Davis, Keith (Pam) Schmidt, Marlene (Dale) Campbell, Virgil (Sandy) Schmidt, Perry (Lyn) Schmidt, Harlan (Kris) Schmidt and Pam Rach; his partner Bonita Julius; granddaughters Kassandra (Michael) Sofferman and Kayla Peterson; great-grandchildren Atticus, Violet and another on the way.

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