Barbara Wagner Schmidt

Barbara was born to John and Mary Lush Wagner in Doña Ana County, New Mexico, where John earned a degree from New Mexico State University and Mary worked as an educational psychologist. The family moved to San Ildefonso Pueblo, and later to a ranch across the Rio Grande from Taos. The drive from the ranch to town took so long in those days, before the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge, that Barbara and her older brother Jack were homeschooled at the ranch by their mother. When Barbara was about 8 they moved to Wagon Mound, New Mexico, and Barbara graduated in 1965 from Wagon Mound High School. While in high school, she was a pianist for the Wagon Mound Evangelical United Brethren (later United Methodist) Church.

She received her bachelor’s in psychology from New Mexico Highlands University, Las Vegas, and a master's from the University of Texas at El Paso. She worked as a mental health counselor in El Paso before becoming a full-time homemaker.

At UTEP she met Erwin Augustus “Dutch” Schmidt, who had served as a helicopter company commander in Vietnam and was a counselor at Fort Bliss. They married April 30, 1979, in El Paso. Together they shared a love of astronomy; Erwin built sophisticated telescopes and an observatory in their backyard. They enjoyed studying the Great Books series in print and on video.

With her strong Christian faith, Barbara was a longtime member of St. Mark’s United Methodist Church in El Paso. Erwin, a skilled mechanic who rebuilt exotic cars after his military retirement, became involved with the church when it needed a reliable bus, and later experienced an epiphany that brought him to join Barbara in church life.

Barbara worked through the ups and downs of a bipolar diagnosis for much of her adult life, learning to weather the changes and find the good in life, and sharing her loving kindness. She found strength in her involvement with the grassroots group National Alliance on Mental Illness, in addition to her faith, family, and loving pets.

Barbara moved to the Good Samaritan Society’s White Acres community in El Paso in 2015, where she enjoyed activities and outings and attended Bible study and religious services. When the pandemic limited outside visitors, she and other residents formed a Bible study group and prepared topics and songs for Sunday meetings, with Barbara playing the melody on a piano while the group sang along.

She was preceded in death by her parents in 2012, and her husband in 2013.

She is survived by her older brother Jack Wagner and his wife Rita of Anthony, New Mexico, both of whom helped Barbara tremendously after Erwin’s death and brought a sparkle to her eyes. She also leaves her loving sisters Anita (Bob) Hueftle, Boulder, Colorado; Kathleen (Steve) Pope of Berkeley, California; and Marianne Kawnak, Aurora, Colorado, and daughter Maddie. Her niece Polly (Rudy) Saenz and nephew Floyd (Sharon) Wagner of Las Cruces often shared family celebrations with her, along with Floyd and Sharon’s children Jack and Abbey.

Barbara treasured her bonus family from Dutch’s first marriage: Lynda Gayle of Palestine, Texas, and son Brian (Jen) Rash; Gus Schmidt of Loveland, Colorado, and son Zachary; Bob and Darci Schmidt of Highland Village, Texas, and daughter Haley (Ruben) Salazar, son Taylor (Michelle) Schmidt, and grandchildren Mia, Hans, Florence, Daphne, and Saleh Salazar, and Beau and Scarlett Schmidt; Steven and Debbie Schmidt of Cary, North Carolina, and daughters Susan (Colin) McCain and Helen (Drew) Seamon and child Josephine Ruth; and Michael John, known as Mickey, Dutch’s youngest son, in Justin, Texas.

A graveside service is planned at Fort Bliss National Cemetery April 18. Barbara’s urn will be placed with Erwin’s.

Services entrusted to Sunset Funeral Home-West.