First love guides bereaved bride from duds to farm dude
By John Quinlan, Journal staff writer | Posted: Thursday, February 14, 2008
Pam and Ken Schmit kiss Wednesday in their rural Hospers home. (Staff photo by Tim Hynds)
Editor's note: Falling in love really can lead to living happily ever after. It's just that sometimes, it takes a test flight before you soar. We asked Siouxlanders to share their stories of finding true love on the second try. Happy Valentine's Day, Siouxland.
HOSPERS, Iowa -- Pam Schmit's first love was a good guy in every way. A high school classmate in Dyersville, Iowa, he wrote to her every day and called twice a week while she was a freshman at Briar Cliff College in 1987. They were engaged soon after he graduated from Ellsworth Community College.
"And we had a wonderful wedding a month after I graduated from UNI with my teaching degree," she said. "That was June 7, 1991. On July 6, 1991, he was killed instantly when the bike he was riding was struck down by a semi. One month later, I began my first teaching job."
The lesson to be learned here, though, is that there are second chances.
Pam said she went through a few "duds" before she found her second love, Ken Schmit, a farm dude from Hospers.
She was teaching at Granville Spalding Catholic, and Ken was a Spalding grad when they met at a basketball game and were "set up" by mutual friends. Her first impression was, well, he's a nice-looking guy. She recognized him from the church they both attended.
"I don't know if it was love at first sight. But we just talked for hours and hours our first couple of meetings," she said.
"After a couple dates, I guess I kind of knew she was the person I wanted to spend the rest of my life with," Ken said. "After the second date, I think we pretty much both knew that that was love after all."
They met in January 1994, got engaged in April, then tied the knot with a wedding on Dec. 17 that same year. Once they'd found love, they weren't going to let it slip away.
Pam said she always had faith she'd get a second chance.
"I did," she said. "I had all the faith in the world that actually my husband that had been killed -- I truly believed he would help me find somebody. I just did. I really believed that I would find somebody again.
"We have a great life on the family farm, and our love has only grown deeper with our new little bonus baby that has blessed our lives," she said.
The Schmits had three school-age children and Pam had returned to teaching when that bonus baby, a son, was born three months ago, turning Pam into a stay-at-home mom once again. "And we have kind of fallen in love all over again after we had our little Anthony," she said.
Ken recalled their small "Christmas-y" wedding and the proposal that was "nothing special" and tried gallantly to find the right words to explain how he felt about the woman he loved.
"I'm not real good at this kind of stuff," he said. "I don't know. ... We've been married for 13 years, and every year that goes by, things seem to be better and better. I fall more and more in love with her every year that goes by. I mean ... she's my best friend and I couldn't imagine life without her."
The right words came.
A schooner, a Charlie Boy and an old friend: Click here
http://www.siouxcityjournal.com/articles/2008/02/14/news/top/6631A9AF5E7711C2862573EE007EE3DE.txt
HOSPERS, Iowa -- Pam Schmit's first love was a good guy in every way. A high school classmate in Dyersville, Iowa, he wrote to her every day and called twice a week while she was a freshman at Briar Cliff College in 1987. They were engaged soon after he graduated from Ellsworth Community College.
"And we had a wonderful wedding a month after I graduated from UNI with my teaching degree," she said. "That was June 7, 1991. On July 6, 1991, he was killed instantly when the bike he was riding was struck down by a semi. One month later, I began my first teaching job."
The lesson to be learned here, though, is that there are second chances.
Pam said she went through a few "duds" before she found her second love, Ken Schmit, a farm dude from Hospers.
She was teaching at Granville Spalding Catholic, and Ken was a Spalding grad when they met at a basketball game and were "set up" by mutual friends. Her first impression was, well, he's a nice-looking guy. She recognized him from the church they both attended.
"I don't know if it was love at first sight. But we just talked for hours and hours our first couple of meetings," she said.
"After a couple dates, I guess I kind of knew she was the person I wanted to spend the rest of my life with," Ken said. "After the second date, I think we pretty much both knew that that was love after all."
They met in January 1994, got engaged in April, then tied the knot with a wedding on Dec. 17 that same year. Once they'd found love, they weren't going to let it slip away.
Pam said she always had faith she'd get a second chance.
"I did," she said. "I had all the faith in the world that actually my husband that had been killed -- I truly believed he would help me find somebody. I just did. I really believed that I would find somebody again.
"We have a great life on the family farm, and our love has only grown deeper with our new little bonus baby that has blessed our lives," she said.
The Schmits had three school-age children and Pam had returned to teaching when that bonus baby, a son, was born three months ago, turning Pam into a stay-at-home mom once again. "And we have kind of fallen in love all over again after we had our little Anthony," she said.
Ken recalled their small "Christmas-y" wedding and the proposal that was "nothing special" and tried gallantly to find the right words to explain how he felt about the woman he loved.
"I'm not real good at this kind of stuff," he said. "I don't know. ... We've been married for 13 years, and every year that goes by, things seem to be better and better. I fall more and more in love with her every year that goes by. I mean ... she's my best friend and I couldn't imagine life without her."
The right words came.
A schooner, a Charlie Boy and an old friend: Click here
http://www.siouxcityjournal.com/articles/2008/02/14/news/top/6631A9AF5E7711C2862573EE007EE3DE.txt
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Pam Schmit wrote on Feb 14, 2008 10:34 AM: