Mary Louise Schmidt

Mary was born in the back of a taxicab in a hospital parking lot in New York, NY. Her early years were spent in Newport, RI and Naples, Italy as her father, a U.S. Navy Attorney and Judge, changed assignments. The family eventually settled in Fairfax, VA in the mid-1960s. She graduated from W. T. Woodson High School in 1971. She attended William Smith College where she obtained a degree in history in 1975 and met her future husband, Vincent Schmidt of Newburgh, NY. Mary worked for the Federal government her entire career, having early jobs as a paralegal at the Justice Department and IRS in Washington DC.

Mary and Vincent married in 1978 at St Ambrose parish in Annandale, VA. They moved to Rochester Hills, MI where she lived for 32 years, working as a personnel staffing specialist for the U.S. Army. In 2010, she retired and moved back to Fairfax, VA. There she lived in the house where she grew up.

In retirement, Mary and Vincent traveled extensively. They also spent a lot of time on the island of St. John in the U.S. Virgins Islands where they worked as volunteers at Maho Bay Camp eco-resort, eventually working there full time for what Mary called the best year of her life.

Mary was a kind and gentle person who even insisted on using a live trap for house mice. She loved every cat she ever met, owning three and caring for many others. She will be sorely missed.

She is survived by her husband Vincent and predeceased by her father and mother, Louis and Marie Milano of Fairfax, VA.

In Mary’s memory, please donate to The Animal Care Center on St. John, USVI. Send donations to St. John ACC, PO Box 429, St. John, USVI, 00831 mentioning Mary’s name.

A celebration of life will be held sometime in the future.