Liz Schmidt

One of the problems that comes with writing a story about Liz Schmidt is catching up with her, then making sure she hasn't added to her long list of awards since you last spoke.

For instance, we enjoyed lunch and a review of the contributions this diminutive 76-year-old dynamo has made to Columbia in the past 52 years.Before my lead was cold, Liz had received a lifetime achievement award from the Muleskinners, the luncheon club of the Democratic Party.She had been treasurer of the group and active in Democratic politics since the Democratic donkey was a weanling.We'll try again.

When the Columbia Values Diversity Awards were first presented in 1998, Liz was one of the first two community leaders honored.She shared the award, which annually goes to those whose work in the community best exemplifies the life and teachings of Martin Luther King, with May Etta Hall, a home-school communicator at Lange Middle School at the time.

Hall spent two decades as a communicator at New Haven and Russell Boulevard elementary schools before working at Lange and retired to become a Methodist minister in Macon, a role she enjoys today.
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The same comment applies to Liz.She and her late husband, Paul, came to Columbia in 1953 from the University of Wisconsin.Liz said in 1998, 'I remember when schools, businesses and restaurants were segregated and Columbia was just like any Southern town.

'When we moved here in 1953, that's the way things worked.Federal, state and local laws have made what used to be legal illegal and what used to be illegal legal, but that doesn't mean everything is perfect now.'

Liz is still working hard to achieve that perfection.

The League of Women Voters is a huge, vital part of Liz's life.A former president of the local chapter, she has been involved in every aspect of the organization since 1960.Her most recent involvement was helping bring together a group of 100 concerned residents to form study circles to discuss the conflict of national security and an individual's civil rights.When Liz asked Ol' Clark to become a trained facilitator, how could I say 'no' to such a sweet, petite septuagenarian?

Liz has been on TV longer than Walter Cronkite, and the only word she ever speaks is 'time!' For many years, Liz has served as the timer for debates and panel discussions sponsored by the Columbia/Boone County League of Women Voters.She's the person who holds up the signs that read '1:00' and '0:30,' and it is she who announces, 'Time!' When this mother of five says, 'Time!' she means 'time!' and not 'ramble on.'

Liz's dedication was first rewarded more than 40 years ago when Liz was honored as the Columbia Jaycees Outstanding Young Woman of the Year in 1964.

By that time, the Schmidts had five children, and Liz was well into 25 years of service at Grant Elementary School, deeply involved in PTA projects and countless school projects.She guided three daughters through Girl Scouts, serving as neighborhood chairwoman for Grant, University Lab School and Douglass School Scout groups.In 1963, she was director of the Girl Scout Day Cap, and she was area registrar in 1964.

In the four decades that followed, Liz worked hard to put her choices on the school board, but she never ran for office herself.She served on the Planning and Zoning Commission from 1971 to 1976, on the Environment Committee in the late 1970s and on the Board of Adjustment in the early '80s.

Liz was up front twice in losing battles to get home rule for Boone County, in 1981 and 1991.Later, she served on three committees of the Dr. Martin Luther King Commission.
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Liz has been a major role player with the UNICEF Trick or Treat Project, the Fellowship of Reconciliation, the Wardrobe, Church Women United and the Interfaith Council.

In addition to all else, Liz has been very active in the arts.
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Liz was at Carleton College in Northfield, Minn., where the Younger Brothers were captured in a failed bank robbery, for two years.She met Paul, and they were married in 1950 after moving to the University of Wisconsin.Liz graduated with a degree in economics and a minor in public utilities, and Paul earned his doctorate in physics.
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In the 1960s, Liz served as the Girl Scout cookie chairwoman.If that program ever falters, give Liz a call.There's no doubt that half of Boone County would have cookies in the cupboard in a matter of days with Liz in charge.

She sells her project with a quiet smile and a Cheshire cat grin and doesn't accept 'no' for an answer.Just remember to stop when she says 'Time!'