ST. HELENA — Rodney Joseph Schmidt, 81, St. Helena, died March 10, 2023, at the Good Samaritan Center, Bloomfield.

Mass of Christian Burial will be March 16, at 10:30 a.m., at Holy Family (Immaculate Conception) Catholic Church, St. Helena, with the Rev. Jim Keiter officiating.

Burial will be at Immaculate Conception Catholic Cemetery, rural St. Helena.

Pallbearers will be Darold Schmidt, Arlynn Schmidt, Cory Martinson, Roger Bonertz, Dean Kaiser and Kevin Bruening.

Visitation will be Wednesday, at church, from 5-7 p.m., with a Vigil Service at 7 p.m. Visitation will continue Thursday, one hour prior to services.

Arrangements are under the direction of the Wintz Funeral Home, Hartington.

Rodney Joseph was born Aug. 9, 1941, in Yankton, S.D., to Raymond Donald and Felicitas Josephine (Suing) Schmidt. He grew up in St. Helena and attended Yankton High School. Rodney worked for Yankton Concrete Products for 18 years. He then worked for Concrete Materials, Yankton, S.D., for 32 years until retiring in 2010. At that time Rodney drove a truck for Heine Feedlots and also for HK Oil, Yankton. Rodney married Sharon Kay Mann Aug. 14, 1965, in Yankton, S.D.

Rodney was a member of Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, and was the former Mayor of St. Helena. He was instrumental in getting rural water in St. Helena. He was a church usher and helped at the church stand at the 4th of July celebration in St. Helena. Rodney helped to maintain the cemetery for many years, and he always loved to have coffee with his buddies either at the St. Helena Store or in Yankton. Rodney lovingly cared for his wife through the years, with her lung issues, until her death Jan. 26, 2002, at the age of 61. They liked to bowl in their early married years. He also cared for his aging parents.

Rodney always took Cheri to her dance practices and dance functions. It was Rodney who taught his son, Michael, how to work on vehicles. He loved to play cards and play solitaire. He was always there to lend a helping hand, moving snow on people’s driveways. He and Sharon took care of Sharon’s dad, Elmer, when his health was failing by letting him move in with them in their house in St. Helena. Rodney was always an animal lover.

Rodney is survived by his daughter, Cheri (Donald) Rodgers, Wausa; six grandchildren, Cory Martinson (fiancée, Shelby Loberg), Wayne; Abigail and Chris Carrurth, Fayetteville, N.C.; Carrylee and Christina Martinson, Bloomfield; Hannah Schmidt, Hartington; and Zachary Steffen, Sioux Falls, S.D.; one great-grandson, Callahan Carrurth; three brothers, Darrold (Jean) Schmidt, South Sioux City; Arlynn (Dorothy) Schmidt, Elk Point, S.D.; Marvin “Butch” (Marlene) Schmidt, Fordyce; and a sister, Marilyn Hejna, Utica, S.D.; and special friend, Kathleen Waits, Crofton.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Raymond and Felicitas Schmidt; son, Michael; mother and father-in-law, Elmer and Eva Mann; grandparents, Joseph and Josephine Suing, and Grandpa and Grandma Schmidt; brothers-in-law, Lloyd Hejna, Melvin and Ralph Mann, Ted Pickett; sister-in-law, Eldora Pickett; and many aunts and uncles on both sides, and on his wife Sharon’s side of the family.