On a beautiful sunny afternoon, April 24, 2013, Annetha Gimbel Schmitt decided to leave this world. She was born 88 years ago on Oct. 11, 1924 to John and Margaret Gimbel in Hazelton, N.D., the fourth child of six boys and six girls. She had an active imagination, necessary for a child born into the harsh farm life of the dust bowl, depression era. Annetha wrote and told stories about that life so her children knew what it was like and then she left that area as a young woman. She was very proud of teaching school before she left North Dakota. Reading was her great joy and she passed that along to her children, grandchild, and great grandchildren.

Annetha came to Seattle in the late ‘40’s and met her husband of 52 years, Reinhold Schmitt. They were married at Trinity Lutheran Church in downtown Seattle and lived on Capitol Hill in the top of a Victorian house. Later they moved to Richmond Beach in the Shoreline area. They had a lively life in ‘50’s Seattle when the town was smaller and you knew everyone. Annetha was always very proud of being a woman in the workforce and making her own way. She worked for Shoreline School District, Pedline Supply and the Hearthstone Retirement Center on Green Lake. Reinhold preceded her in death 10 years ago.

Annetha loved the Pacific Northwest. All the trees and the sea! It was a far cry from the prairie where she grew up. She went camping, fishing, and exploring with Rein and the kids and eventually they bought a little cabin at Dolphin Bay on Orcas Island. Annetha sold her house in Shoreline two years ago and came back to Orcas full time. She enjoyed the Senior Centers at both Shoreline and Orcas, was a member of Bethel Lutheran Church and had many friends in both places.

Annetha is survived by her three children, Richard Schmitt, Paul Schmitt, and Debra Madan, one grandchild Annetha Madan Caswell (and husband Jim), and their two daughters Austin and Aran.

A graveside service will be held May 18 at 11 a.m. at Evergreen/Washelli Cemetery in Seattle.

“Unable are the loved to die, For love is immortality.” – Emily Dickinson