Jim Schmiedlin

DENNIS HAYS

Active member
Hays Plumbing Heating Hays
We lost a very good man today. Jim Schmiedlin. He has been fighting ALS for a few years now. He was truly like a brother to me. I love him and his wife Debra Faye Walsh dearly. He was a true man. If this country had more men like him it would be a better place. He loved his country his family and his friends. I pray that god looks over you and your family.
Jim thank you for being my Friend.
 
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A good man and human being "walked on" and left us... Jim was a American Master who cannot, and will not be replaced. A true friend that my wife Mary Lee and I shall dearly miss. Our thoughts and prayers are with Deb and their entire family.

"I didn't find my friends; the good God gave them to me." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
 
There are no DO OVER's in life. If there were Jimmy's departure would warrant one.


Godspeed Jimmy. You will be missed. And remembered.



Steve
 
RIP Mr. Schmeidlin. I only knew you through your decoys. Your ability to create such wonderful works of art set the bar for me. May your family and friends find solace with one another's love, friendship and with their memories of you.

Best - Paul
 
I had the pleasure of meeting Jim several times, and actually watched him give a little speech about his Decoys one time many years ago.

However, he was a hunting partner and good friend of a friend of mine. For him especially, I am truly sorry.


Ky Krause and Jim Schmiedlin in the same year. The world, particularly the Waterfowler brethren, is certainly a poorer place today.


Jon
 
Saddened to hear the news. The fowling and decoy community lost a good man. My sympathies to his family and many friends.
 
I agree with you Jon Ky and Jim in the same year our get togethers will be incomplete.
Jim who most people knew in the decoy world would always say to me and my wife " thanks for being my friend". I knew the legend first then really got to know Jim and Debbie, what a guy, what a talent, what a humble being. really enjoyed knowing him and will miss him and Ky both.
Ken
 
Jim made the most beautiful diving duck decoys I have ever seen. The reality that he was a very genuine human being, beyond his talents as a decoy carver, speaks volumes about the worth of his life.

"All mankind is of one author, and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language; and every chapter must be so translated...As therefore the bell that rings to a sermon, calls not upon the preacher only, but upon the congregation to come: so this bell calls us all: but how much more me, who am brought so near the door by this sickness....No man is an island, entire of itself...any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee."

-John Donne, Meditation XVII
 
Jim will never be forgotten due to the fact that when you looked at one of his dekes you automatically knew, "That's a JM decoy!!!"

What a legacy!!!
 
"I had the pleasure of meeting Jim several times, and actually watched him give a little speech about his Decoys one time many years ago.

However, he was a hunting partner and good friend of a friend of mine. For him especially, I am truly sorry.


Ky Krause and Jim Schmiedlin in the same year. The world, particularly the Waterfowler brethren, is certainly a poorer place today.


Jon
"
I agree Jon also...
Very sad to read... Both great decoy guys.
I bet you KY welcomed Jim with open arms above... But he is probably also asking Jim for some touch ups on his decoys.
 
I had the pleasure to meet Jim at the Ohio Decoy show back in 1991. I bought a decoy from Jim out of his room every year the next couple of years at the Ohio show. I was very enthusiastic about Jim's decoys. Consequently, my wife Angie contacted Jim without my knowledge and arranged to surprise me with a decoy birthday present and X-mas present in the same year (1994) Mallard and Pintail. Jim inscribed the bottoms of the decoys as a gift to Angie and myself and also listed the hunting history of the decoys. Those two decoys are up on our fireplace mantle. I was very excited to see Jim featured at the 2011 Midwest Decoy Collectors Show with that tremendous display of his decoys. Our thoughts and prayers of go out to Debbie. God bless you Jim, Rest in peace !


Ken Zaborski
 
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