Mary Schmidt

Mary Schmidt, 86, formerly of Freeman passed away on Sept. 13th at Avera Prince of Peace in Sioux Falls. Private family graveside services will be held at the Schartner Cemetery. 

Mary (Pruitt) Schmidt, a beloved wife, mother, grandmother, and teacher, was reunited with her husband, Allen, on September 13, 2026. Sam said it best: “I bet Grandpa was happy to see her. Finally, fresh pie that tastes like Grandma Mary made it.” Mary was born January 2, 1940, to Norma and Arthur Pruitt in Wichita, Kansas. She graduated from North High School in Wichita before attending Kansas State University, where she served as Chi Omega president and earned a bachelor’s degree in English education. She later earned her master’s degree from Wichita State University.

Wichita North High School was conveniently located on the banks of the Arkansas River, and one of Mary’s favorite classes and pastimes was canoeing. A Boundary Waters trip once took her from Wichita straight north on Highway 81 to Canada, where she camped at the Silver Lake picnic shelter just three miles north of the Schmidt family farm. Little did she know she would one day meet and fall in love with a teacher and farmer from Freeman, and that together they would raise two daughters on a sheep farm just down the road.

Mary’s first teaching job was at Southeast High School in Wichita. Also starting his first teaching job there was a tall, bald German teacher in the neighboring classroom. At the time, Allen drove a 1955 Studebaker Champion with only two seat belts: one for the driver and one in the middle of the front seat, right next to the driver. Mary’s quandary was whether to ride with the safety of a seat belt next to a man she did not know well or maintain her distance and ride without one. The story goes that she chose space over safety on that first date. Eventually, Allen won her over. Not only did she slide to the middle seat, but they married on June 6, 1967.

After the birth of their two daughters, Katrina and Monique, Mary and Allen moved to Allen’s childhood farm north of Freeman, South Dakota. During their 41 years on the farm, they both taught high school so they could afford to farm, raised their daughters, and tended a flock of 400 sheep.

Mary was passionate about teaching and poured her creativity into her geography, speech, English, and Potpourri classes at Freeman High School. Even after retirement, Mary never really stopped teaching. She made sure her grandchildren knew how to make the best oatmeal crisps and instilled in them the difference between “there,” “their,” and “they’re.”

Mary loved spending time with her grandkids. She established treasured traditions like building gingerbread houses at Christmas and baking lamb cakes to celebrate birthdays. She also relished playing the ultimate roles of tooth fairy, luggage fairy, pine tree fairy, and feather fairy.

Mary was an incredibly talented and creative woman who loved to paint and make wheat weavings with wheat from Allen’s fields. She loved to read and always took books along on the many road trips across the Midwest she and Allen took together.

Mary was preceded in death by Allen, her husband of 54 years; her parents, Norma and Arthur Pruitt; her in-laws, Sam and Marie Schmidt; her sister, Sue Paschal, and Sue’s husband, Robert; her brother, John Pruitt; her brother-in-law, Gordon Schmidt, and his wife, Diena; her brother-in-law, Orville Schmidt; and her niece, Becky Paschal.

Mary leaves many people whom she loved deeply and who loved her deeply: her daughter Katrina (Harold) Gordon; grandchildren Sam, Natalie (Brennan), and Livie (Ethan); daughter Monique; sisters Patricia (Bruce) Little and Kathy (Ron) Henderson; and many nieces and nephews.

We’ll leave you with a quote that Mom and Dad had hanging on our kitchen wall:

“Hold fast to dreams. For if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly. Hold fast to dreams, for when dreams go, life is a barren field, frozen with snow.” — Langston Hughes

Burial will be at the Schartner Cemetery. To honor Mary’s wishes, her memorial will be a family-only service. If you would like to make a donation in Mary’s memory, please consider one of her favorite nonprofits:

Friends of Freeman Library

PO Box 262

Freeman, SD 57029

Salem-Zion Mennonite Church (North Church)

27844 443rd Ave

Freeman, SD 57029

Lincoln High School Marching Band

PO Box 2965

Sioux Falls, SD 57101-2965