Fonds wet-1325 - Schmidt family fonds

Herb Schmidt (1902 - 1980) came to Alberta from Nebraska with his parents. In 1912, Herb moved to Wetaskiwin. He married Gertha Nilsson (1903- 1969) and they had three children, Dallas, Iiona and Shirley. He worked as a buyer for the National Grain Company, then in 1944 bought the Wood Brothers Stores in Ma-Me-O and renamed them Herby's. Dallas joined the R.C.A.F. in 1941 and served in Malta and Africa. He was discharged in 1945 with the DFC and bar. He purchased the stores from his father and in 1946 married Christine Sommerville. He sold the stores and went into the construction business before once again joining the R.C.A.F. in 1851 and training NATO pilots in at the airbase in Gimli, Manitoba. He left the Air Force in 1956 and moved to Bonnie Glen where he began his livestock business. He was on the County Council and was Reeve until 1975 when he was elected as MLA for Wetaskiwin. He was a Cabinet Minister-without-portfolio until 1977, then Associate Minister of Energy and Natural Resources and in 1979, Minister of Agriculture. He resigned in 1983 and became Chairman of the Reynolds- Alberta Museum Advisory Committee. He became a member of the Wetaskiwin Agricultural Society Hall of Fame in 1992.