Robert Eugene Schmitz was born in Burke, South Dakota on May 6, 1948 to William Gaylord and Marie Ann (Ertz) Schmitz of Bonesteel, SD where Bob spent his childhood and high school years. <\/p>\n
He was taken home to his Lord on November 8, 2011 from results of a sudden stroke. <\/p>\n
Bob was united in marriage to Margie Olson Gruenig on May 19, 1983 at Chamberlain, South Dakota. He married into an instant family and was a wonderful father to Brent and Ann Gruenig. <\/p>\n
Bob served his country from 1970 to 1972 as a member of the US Army. He served approximately ten years with the South Dakota Recruiting and Retention Force and twenty years fulltime with the 200th Engineer Company. Most of His thirty years of fulltime employment with the SDARNG was focused on ensuring Unit Readiness and taking care of the soldiers. <\/p>\n
Bob and Margie moved to Montana in 2008 to be closer to their daughter, her husband and several grandchildren. He loved every minute being \u201cGrandpa\u201d with all twelve of his Grandchildren. He enjoyed his retirement working at his part-time job at Shopko and fishing\/hunting with his buddy Jim. He worked hard as a resident and member of the board in Bryant Acres where he lived and took much pride in this new development. His faith grew with his membership in the First Presbyterian Church, Small Group Ministry and other events. <\/p>\n
Thankful for the memories and sharing his life is his wife, Margie; Son Brent and Grandson Adam Gruenig of Winamac, IN; Daughter and Son-in-law Ann and Todd Clark and Grandchildren Isaac, Gabe, Sarah, Silas, Hannah, Elizabeth, Emeline, Anthony, Veronica, Sophia and Lucia of Helena, MT. His sisters Shirley (Ken) Pistulka of Grinnell IA, Patty (Eben) Bailey of Bonesteel SD, Carol (Dan) Pistulka of Omaha NE, Donna Schmitz of Gregory SD and Brother Leroy Schmitz of Platte SD plus many nieces, nephews and cousins. Bob leaves many friends, which was everyone he met, along with his SD National Guard family. <\/p>\n
Bob is preceded in death by his parents, his step-dad Pete Cozad and his sister Marlene Schmitz. <\/p>\n
Proverbs 16:9 In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps. <\/p>\n
Life is what we are alive to. It is not length but breadth \u2026Be alive to \u2026 goodness, kindness, purity, love, history, poetry, music, flowers, stars, God, and eternal hope. Maltbie D. Babcock <\/p>\n
The family will receive friends at 6:30 p.m. with a prayer service at 7:30 p.m. Friday, November 11th at Anderson Stevenson Wilke Funeral Home. A funeral service will be 10:00 a.m. Saturday, November 12th at First Presbyterian Church. Interment with military honors will be 10:00 a.m. Monday, November 14th at Montana State Veterans Cemetery. Condolences may be sent to the family by visiting: www.aswfuneralhome.com<\/p>\n","photo":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/503686_profile_pic.jpg","youtube_video_url":"","family_email":"","family_first_name":"","family_last_name":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/case\/979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/case"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/case"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}