Montezuma –Mom was born on April 24,1935 to Wallace and Bertha (Yost) Schmidt at home in Haskell County, Kansas. She passed away on January 2, 2023 at Bethel Home in Montezuma.

She attended the Colusa school house. She grew up with my Dad not knowing they would fall in love and become soulmates for life. They got married on September 2, 1956 in Copeland, Kansas. A year later their son first Kevin Keith was born and they were overjoyed! Two years later their first daughter, Kimberly Kay was born. Five years later the baby of the family Kendra Fay arrived and their family was complete. We lived in Kansas at Copeland and Plymell, Tucumcari, New Mexico, Jacmel, Haiti, Louisville, Georgia, and Detroit, Texas.

Dad and Mom felt called to be missionaries in Haiti so off we went on June 17, 1969 not knowing the language or anything about their culture but it didn't take long to fall in love with the Haitian people. We spent four years there as a family and then when our Dad retired, his dream of going back to Haiti to teach the Haitian people how to help themselves became a reality! Since our Dad was a dirt mover, he already had the skills to know how to build roads, so he started building roads in places there had never been roads before and a lot of people had never seen white people or a vehicle. Because of the roads that were built, that led to building two hospital clinics, an airport runway, building multiple bridges, teaching the Haitians how to build terraces on the steep mountain slopes so they could raise better crops, started a greenhouse, planted 5,000 acres to mahogany trees, that is now reproducing its own little seeds and the best thing about that type of tree is the goats won't eat the leaves so it has continued to thrive on its own. Also, 1300 houses were donated by another organization and built on one of the roads that my Dad made, and many other things that would benefit the Haitian people. Mom was always right beside him every step of the way, handing out bread to starving children and giving them treats.

Mom loved to give gifts to almost everyone she met, especially children.  Mom was always referred to as Madame Raymon, and was considered a MaMa and Grandma to so many Haitians. She had an entire closet full of baby clothes of all sizes and all sorts of toys so she was always prepared! She loved bird watching and had bird feeders everywhere, she especially loved cardinals and hummingbirds, at one time she even had a bird house built in their backyard in Texas and she raised doves. She also loved to read and would always have a small library with her in the car so she could read whenever they were on the road. She never met a stranger, she loved to cook and was always willing to open our home to complete strangers. She also LOVED to sing, she would always be singing to herself from sunup til sundown! Mom also loved flowers, roses were her favorite but she loved any kind of flowers and could never have enough hanging baskets!

Survivors include her husband, Raymond Withers, of Detroit, Texas, favorite son, Kevin of Forney, Texas, favorite middle child, Kimberly and her husband, Steve Peters of North Augusta, South Carolina, and favorite youngest child, Kendra and her husband, Forrest Holdeman of Ithica, Michigan; eight grandchildren; 10 great grandchildren; sisters, JoAnn Schmidt of Montezuma, and Phyllis and husband Irv Bissell of Portland Oregon; a brother, Clinton Schmidt of Grant, Nebraska; and a sister-in-law, Betty Schmidt of Montezuma. She is preceded in death by her parents; a brother, Merle Schmidt; a brother-in-law, Clayton Schmidt; and sisters-in-law, Twilah Schmidt and Millie Schmidt.

Funeral service will be held at Red River Valley Mennonite Church, Detroit, Texas on Saturday, January 7, 2023 at 10:00 AM.  Burial will follow at Red River Valley Mennonite Church Cemetery. Visitation will be at Swaim Funeral Chapel, Montezuma on Wednesday, January 4, 2023 from 10:00 AM to noon and at the Red River Valley Mennonite Church, Detroit, Texas on Friday, January 6, 2023 from 6:00 PM to 8:00PM.  Memorials are suggested to Hope For Haiti-PO Box 4-Lakin, Kansas 67850.  Thoughts and memories may be shared in the online guest book at www.swaimfuneralhome.com.