Kenneth Alvin Schmidt

Kenneth Alvin Schmidt died in Houston, Texas on 4 July 2026 at the age of 85 years of Alzheimer’s disease. Ken was a good man, husband, father, and friend.

Of Wendish descent, Kenneth was born on 17 December 1940 in Houston, Texas to Alvin and Eleanora Schmidt and attended school at Lutheran High in Houston and the University of Texas in Austin.

Eleanora died young with Kenneth only 15 years of age. Alvin (who worked in the Houston ship channel area for Humble Oil) decided that tug boat life might be just the ticket to ensure his son’s wellbeing following Eleanora’s death. Kenneth’s adventures from that era ’’on the boat’’ the Scout were to serve him for the rest of his life. Kenneth told and retold stories of that time until his death. He loved boats and the water.

Ken was an artist, a philosopher, and a lover of music and poetry. He lived a life of service – to his wife, Jean, and numerous individuals he met. From co-workers facing discrimination to overlooked special needs children on his school bus to others who had treated him harshly in the past, Kenneth helped them all as best as he possibly could. He valued humans, other animals, and the natural world, seeing value and beauty in the rocks, trees, and territory of the Texas hill country and beyond.

Always exploring, Kenneth underwent many iterations of religious beliefs – born a Lutheran, converted to Catholicism, adopting Atheism, and settling into Buddhism. Although routinely espousing monastic life as his path post-fulfillment of his marital death-do-us-part clause, Ken opted for creating art, traveling with family, riding his bicycle, befriending young artists and non-humans after Jean died in 2014 and prior to his illness.

He loved dancing, singing, Mediterranean food, and beer. People of every ilk had fun with Kenneth. Upon learning of Ken’s death, musician Shand Walton who had been staying with Ken during the devastating Wimberley Flood of 2015, said, ’’We had some good times and funny conversations. Can’t think of a more positive person to be in a natural disaster with.’’

Kenneth is preceded in death by wife Gloria Jean Schmidt, parents Alvin and Eleanora Schmidt, step-mother Ester Schmidt, sister Janice Eubanks, and best friend John Jordan. He is survived by his daughters Jennifer Jean Schmidt (Sunil Kothari) and Alison Jean Schmidt Romano (Tony Romano) and best friends Ernest Sears and Gandy. Kenneth is also survived by his sisters Lynda Douglas (Ronald Douglas) and Karen Stokes (Roy Stokes) and sister-in-law Carol Thompson (Charles Thompson), as well as numerous nieces and nephews. He loved all of these (and more) very, very much.

As Kenneth was always and forever an Existentialist and The Myth of Sisyphus a gilding principle in his life, the following passage from this seminal work by Albert Camus is included here in closing.

I leave Sisyphus at the foot of the mountain! One always finds one's burden again. But Sisyphus teaches the higher fidelity that negates the gods and raises rocks. He too concludes that all is well. This universe henceforth without a master seems to him neither sterile nor futile. Each atom of that stone, each mineral flake of that night-filled mountain, in itself forms a world. The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man's heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy.

. . . and so it was for Kenneth Alvin Schmidt.

Visitation will be held at Pat H. Foley & Company, 1200 West 34th Street, Houston, TX 77018, US, on July 23, 2026, from 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm, with the Rosary at Pat H. Foley & Company, 1200 West 34th Street, Houston, TX 77018, on July 23, 2026, at 6:30 pm.

A Funeral Service will take place at St. Rose of Lima Catholic Community, 3600 Brinkman St, Houston, TX 77018, on July 24, 2026, at 10:30 am, followed by a Reception at Aladdin Mediterranean Grill, 1737 West 34th Street, Houston, TX 77018, on July 24, 2026, from 12:00 pm to 2:00 pm.

A Committal Service will be held at Forest Park Lawndale Cemetery, 6900 Lawndale Street, Houston, TX 77023, on July 24, 2026, at 3:00 pm.