Martha K (Kortepeter) Schmidt

Martha K (Kortepeter) Schmidt of Zionsville, IN, passed away on June 25, with her family at her bedside. The cause was glioblastoma multiforme.

Martha was the daughter of Carl Frederick Kortepeter and Olive (Derbyshire) Kortepeter, born on March 24, 1939, at the Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis, IN. She attended Southport Elementary & Middle Schools and Tudor Hall School for Girls in Indianapolis and ultimately graduated from Westtown Friends School in Westtown, PA. She received her AB degree in English Literature with a teaching certificate from IU Bloomington where she met her future husband of 62 years, Paul Edgar Schmidt, who was a waiter at her sorority. She subsequently taught high school English in Indiana and California, and later, after her children were grown, worked alongside her husband as his Executive Assistant during the final 20 years of his cardiology practice.

Martha and Paul had two children, Dr. Christian Maximillian Schmidt, and Dr. Heidi Emanuelle Schmidt. They and their children became a major focus of her love and relentless support for the remainder of her life. Martha had a life-long passion for generously serving those who are socially, economically or physically disadvantaged. This led her into leadership roles in non-profits: Stansfield Circle Board of Directors (Indianapolis, IN), Bethphage International (now Mosaic of Omaha) Agency and Foundation Boards of Directors, and the Lutheran Child & Family Services Agency & Foundation Board of Directors (Indianapolis, IN). For several years, she also led the Social Concerns Team of her home congregation, Christ Lutheran Church Zionsville, and served as a Volunteer CASA in Boone County, IN. She was a faithful and generous patron of College Mentors for Kids and the Indiana University Pancreatic Cyst and Cancer Early Detection Fund.

Martha also loved music. She sang lead roles in high school musicals, sang in the Singing Hoosiers at IU Bloomington, and was in the chorus line of Starlight Musicals at Butler University. She was on the Board of Directors of the Indianapolis Symphonic Choir, and while President of the Board, helped to create a true “community” Board, resulting in a significant increase in the number of concerts/year, educational outreach services, and in major funding resources from corporate, private and foundation donors. She also recently led a team which successfully launched one the largest endowments of a community chorus in the country. She and her husband supported the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra as donors and ticket holders yearly since 1972. This love of great orchestral music was fertile ground for agreeing to sponsor the Schmidt Conducting Fellowship, a collaborative agreement between the Conducting Department of the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music and the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra.

Martha was known for her beauty, charismatic servant leadership skills, and her gift for seeing opportunities for making changes for good in the lives of others, and then simply, quietly, humbly and tenaciously getting the job done. In addition, appreciated more by her close friends and family, she loved nature, was a Boone Co, Master Gardener, an amateur ornithologist, and knew the names of most wild flowers, trees, and weeds. She could not wait until her monthly issue of Scientific American arrived, and devoured the weekly Science Times in the NY Times. This love was nurtured by her relentless drive to walk. Walk everywhere, all over the world, especially in her favorite the Grand Tetons, Arizona deserts, on golf courses in the UK and US, and hiking trails in Italy and the British Isles, France and in Indiana.

Most importantly, she was also known for her strong Christian faith. This close trusting relationship she had life-long with her Lord and Creator, nurtured by her parents and her experience attending the Quaker Boarding School was the foundation for her love for everyone, her natural humility, in spite of her beauty and many other gifts, and her drive to serve others, often quite sacrificially. She was naturally quiet, a great listener, and like St. Fransis of Assisi, preached the Gospel with her loving actions, not sermons.

Martha is survived by her husband, Paul Edgar; son Christian Maximillian Schmidt (Christine Mae); daughter Heidi Emanuelle Schmidt; adopted daughter Lorianne (Scott) Clark; brother Paul Frederick Kortepeter; sister-in-law Phyllis Irene Schmidt; grandchildren Christian Maximillian Schmidt II (Sarah with daughters Gwendolyn, Charlotte), Catherine Emanuelle Sartino (Luke), Annika Mae Creel (Tanner), Samuel Arthur Schmidt, and Mia Grace Schmidt; numerous cousins, nieces, and nephews.

Most people who met Martha never forgot her. Nor will her many friends and family upon whom she has made a lasting impression even though she has now finished her earthly journey of love and service and is no longer physically with them. She will be sorely missed.

A private Christian burial service is being arranged. The family requests that contributions in her honor be given to the Lutheran Child & Family Services of Indiana Foundation, the Indianapolis Symphonic Choir Endowment, College Mentors for Kids Endowment, and the Indiana University Foundation c/o the Pancreatic Cyst and Cancer Early Detection Fund.