Camp Courageous is saddened by the recent passing of long time Camp Courageous Board Member and advocate Frieda Schmitz.  Dotty Cummins once said, “in the field of special education, Frieda has forgotten more than most people will ever know.”  Frieda was brilliant in a lot of ways.  Not afraid to give her opinion, I so enjoyed engaging her intellect.  During my first couple years at Camp, she accused me of using Camp Courageous as a steppingstone for bigger and better things.  I so enjoyed my visit with Frieda a year or two ago at Meth-Wick where I reminded her of that comment, nearly 45-years after it was made…I’m still here.  Frieda was a big thinker, and I loved how she pushed us to be better.  Everyone has their weaknesses or fears, so it was fun to pick-up Frieda and camper Eric Snyder in Cedar Rapids, back in the 80s and head to Des Moines, where we were live on the Variety Club Telethon…that experience was way outside her comfort zone.

During Frieda’s sophomore year at Wartburg College, she became one of six people from around the country selected for a summer volunteer program as part of the Columbus State School for the disabled. During this experience, she found her work there to be enjoyable in a way quite unlike anything she’d ever done. This was her first experience with special needs children, whom she would later devote her life to helping. In 1962, Frieda met her husband, Joe Thomas, at Camp Wildwood, where he was the director of Recreation. They were married in 1966 and were married for thirty years. Frieda never shied away from a challenge and stepped up and became a teacher for the disabled. Her teaching career pushed her into thinking critically to solve problems. She taught special education and won awards for her teaching. She was selected as teacher of the year for the county, state, and for the nation by ARC in 1987.  Many students learned to read using her phonetic technique. Frieda retired from teaching in 2001, at the age of 59. She loved nature and wildlife and appreciated people in all their forms. She sought to both receive and provide knowledge and education, and to know not only how things worked, but how they should work.  In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be directed to Camp Courageous in Monticello, Iowa. www/campcourageous.org/donate