Sue Kathryn Schmidt 62, Newport Beach, CA, died Monday March 24, 2025, at her home in Newport Beach.
She was born May 15, 1962, in Hays Kansas at St. Joseph’s Hospital, the daughter of Robert E. and Patricia Schmidt. She grew up in Hays attending Wilson grade school and TMP-Marian Catholic High School for part of Secondary, part at Hays High, graduating in 1980. Following high school she attended Northwestern University in Chicago, finishing her degree in Journalism at the University of Kansas in Lawrence.
She loved horses and helped care for and exercise her own mare and her father’s horses. She was close to her family and spent summers visiting her grandparents, sometimes gardening with them in Kinsley and Lacrosse. Sue had some interesting notoriety as a youth landing a role as stand-in for actress Tatum O’Neil in the Oscar winning movie Paper Moon, filmed in western Kansas.
As an adult she worked as a radio news reporter at several stations in Florida, eventually moving into a role as advertising executive. She loved weekly calls with her parents. After her mother’s passing in 2015, she was steadfast in her Sunday calls with her father until 2017 when he passed.
She moved to Newport Beach, CA. in 2014 where she ultimately retired. She had an affinity for cooking and baking which she shared with friends and acquaintances. She enjoyed listening to big band and Broadway show tunes, Frank Sinatra and Michael Buble.
She is survived by two siblings, sister Ann (Schmidt) Onymous of Cottonwood, AZ and brother Tony Schmidt and his wife Loreta and their four children, (Sue’s nieces and nephews), Andrew, Alexandria, Zachary and Olivia.
There will be a small memorial gathering in Sue’s honor in Hays in October.