Paul Schmidt

Paul was born April 1st, 1965 in Minneapolis, Minnesota to Myrtle (Kenter) Schmidt and Wayne Schmidt. Paul grew up in Richfield, MN, and graduated from Richfield High School, class of 1983. He attended the University of Minnesota-Duluth for 2 years, then transferred to the U of M - Twin Cities Institute of Technology where he was a member, and became student President of Alpha Chi Sigma fraternity. He completed a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering in 1989, and also had an additional major in Genetics and Cell Biology. He took his first professional job with the State of Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and was there for 2 years. Then his career path took him into the Oil & Petroleum industry which brought him to Beaumont/Port Arthur, Texas. He started at Fina Oil, where he earned an Employee of the Year award in 1998. He continued to work for other major companies including W.R. Grace, ConocoPhillips, Albemarle Corp, and Citgo Petroleum in a variety of engineering, technical, consulting, and quality control roles. He had moved to Houston and his work often involved travel, but he was also transferred at various times to Chicago, back to Houston, then Oklahoma, and again back to Houston which he considered his home. Paul was a diehard sports fan, especially for Minnesota (Wild, Vikings, Twins, Timberwolves) and University of Minnesota Gopher sports, but also the Chicago Cubs and Houston Texans. Hockey was his favorite, but he was also very involved in football, fantasy football leagues, baseball, golf, and other sports. He has a large group of friends in Minnesota, Texas, and Chicago with who he watched and discussed games regularly. He also enjoyed biking, investing, travel, Cajun/creole food, The Houston Car Art Parade, pub crawls, and socializing with friends at local hangouts where he watched sports, played trivia, and enjoyed live music. He loved warm climates and sunshine, choosing to travel to favorite places like Galveston Beach, New Orleans, the Caribbean, Panama, and Costa Rica but was always happy to return to Houston, Texas, the city he loved. Paul was a fabulous host and loved to show visitors around wherever he was living, and had great enthusiasm for the things he enjoyed. Things were always more fun when he was there. He chose his friends carefully and valued them for their sincerity, integrity, generosity of spirit, and sense of humor. He surrounded himself with wonderful, caring, kind people who are saddened and shocked by his sudden departure. Paul was found dead in his Houston home on June 2nd, 2017 of natural causes. He was cremated according to his spoken wishes, and will have his ashes scattered in both Texas and Minnesota among the people and places he loved. Arrangements for a celebration of Paul's life to be held in Houston, Texas will take place by the end of June. Plans for a celebration to be held in Minneapolis will be tentatively planned for July. He is survived by his mother, Myrtle (Kenter) Schmidt, sister, Jean (Jim) McGovern, and scores of friends, neighbors, former colleagues and co-workers. Skol, Ski-U-Mah, Let the Good Times Roll, and Rock On, Paul! You are very loved and missed!