Frances M. Schmidt | Artist and teacher, 89

Frances Moyer Schmidt, 89, an artist and educator formerly of Perkasie, died of Parkinson's disease April 2 at Brittany Pointe Estates in Lansdale.

Mrs. Schmidt, whose paintings have been exhibited at local galleries, studied as a teenager with Bucks County impressionist Walter Emerson Baum. He became a mentor and influenced her style, her granddaughter Samantha Brannon said. After graduating from Sell-Perk High School, Mrs. Schmidt also studied at the Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Art.

In the 1940s, she conducted art-therapy classes for wounded World War II soldiers at Valley Forge Military Hospital and taught art at Sell-Perk High. Later she taught art in one-room schoolhouses in the Pennridge School District, and for more than 15 years she taught in junior high schools in the Quakertown School District. She also offered private instruction and summer art classes in her home. She retired in the mid-1970s.

Mrs. Schmidt taught Sunday school at St. Andrew's Evangelical Lutheran Church in Perkasie, where she also was a lector, was a member of the funeral choir and church council, and helped design the stained-glass windows.

She had a take-charge personality, her granddaughter said. When Mrs. Schmidt realized a student who was in foster care was abused, she found a couple to adopt him, Brannon said. She was a charming "Auntie Mame," her granddaughter said. She had long painted nails and preferred red lipstick, chunky jewelry and colorful clothes, Brannon said.

In addition to her granddaughter, Mrs. Schmidt is also survived by daughters Susan Hartman and Jennifer Spear, a sister, another grandchild, and a great-grandson. Her husband of 56 years, Francis "Gus" Schmidt, died in 1997.

A memorial service will be held at 7 p.m. today at St. Andrew's Evangelical Lutheran Church, Dill Avenue and Chestnut Street, Perkasie.