Jim Schmidt was trailblazer in Kansas emergency management

Jim Schmidt’s passion for serving the public bared itself at a young age.

A really young age.

He was just a tyke when he heard a fire truck drive by his house, sirens blaring, while he was taking a bath. He jumped out of the tub and dashed out the door in the direction of the sirens, wearing not a stitch of clothing.

“Helping people was always his mission in life,” said Annette Schmidt, Mr. Schmidt’s wife of 44 years. “He always loved public service.”

Mr. Schmidt, 71, who as a Rose Hill paramedic was one of the first to arrive at the devastation in Andover left behind by a massive tornado on April 26, 1991, is being remembered as a trailblazer in Kansas emergency management. He died of cancer on April 14. Services are pending.

Mr. Schmidt earned a reputation as a “magnet” for his knack of being close to major events when they happened, and he was on the ground floor of many milestones in Wichita-area emergency services.

He loved listening to scanners, Annette Schmidt said. Two weeks after they started dating, he brought a scanner to her place. In hindsight, she said, it was a reflection of how important she was to him already.

After working as a police officer in Kingman and a reserve for the Sedgwick County fire and sheriff’s departments, he was among of the first Wichita/Sedgwick County EMS employees. He later helped develop volunteer EMS services for Butler County and Rose Hill.

“He became known for how he treated people on the scene, with such tenderness, such gentleness,” Annette said. “He was good at it.”

Butler County didn’t have an emergency management department when Andover was struck by the F5 tornado in 1991. Mr. Schmidt was initially reluctant to apply for the newly created position, despite recommendations by many who knew him. He changed his mind when the company he worked for was bought out and moved to Florida.

Mr. Schmidt turned out to be the perfect man for the job, Butler County EMS director Frank Williams said.

“He was just iconic leadership in those formative years,” Williams said.

The department started in the back of a storage room in a metal building in Augusta with nothing more than a desk, a typewriter, a filing cabinet and a telephone.

Over time, Mr. Schmidt built the department into what’s considered “a model for what a non-big city emergency management department should look like,” said Keri Korthals, who worked for Mr. Schmidt for nine years and is the current emergency management director for Butler County. “We’re…a reference point.”

Mr. Schmidt had a gift for helping people recognize the value of having equipment and training that might not be needed for years.

“I think it’s his innate ability to collaborate and communicate and bring people together,” Williams said. “He found common ground, and that’s where he started.

“It wasn’t about him. It was ‘How can we solve this problem? How can we pull people together?’”

That skill was put to use in a variety of settings, including when Mr. Schmidt was involved in recovery efforts in Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005.

He later led a church group down to the same area to further assist recovery efforts.

“He was fabulous” in Mississippi because of the relationships he had developed during the Katrina recovery work, Annette said.

People were drawn to him because he always wore a smile and always had a story to tell.

“It’s almost like he lived several lives,” Korthals said.

As much as he loved public service, family members say, he was also known for his love of gardening and cars and cooking and pulling pranks — his wedding anniversary was on April Fool’s Day — and his deep faith in God.

He loved storm chasing, too, Korthals said, and would often pull staff out of the office to marvel at the structure of approaching storms. He could be both in awe of the power of a tornado and despise the damage it caused.

His chocolate chip cookies were the stuff of local legend, and he even baked some for the firefighters who responded when he fell while cooking in his final days.

When Chance Hayes first became warning coordination meteorologist for the Wichita branch of the National Weather Service, Mr. Schmidt was one of the first emergency managers to reach out to him.

“He knew the importance of good working relationships and how the National Weather Service and emergency managers need to work together to ensure that the people across Kansas and the country were safe,” Hayes said in an email response to questions. “I can remember stopping by Butler County Emergency Management on numerous occasions to sit and talk, continuously picking his brain to gain more insight in how I can learn and grow as a professional.”

Mr. Schmidt took particular pleasure in mentoring others who took an interest in emergency management. Officials all over the state turned to him for guidance.

That mattered so much to him, Korthals said, because he wanted them to be prepared the next time a major flood, a monstrous tornado or some other natural disaster strikes in Kansas. It’s only a matter of time, he would often say.

“He was absolutely passionate and invigorated and full of life,” Korthals said. “He leaves a tremendously big hole.”

He was preceded in death by his parents, Edmund and Mabel Schmidt, and a daughter, Amanda Schmidt. Survivors include his wife; son Malachi Winters, his wife, Andrea, and their children; son Jeremy Schmidt; daughter Stephanie and her husband, Cody Doane, and their children.