Roy L. Schmitt

Roy L. Schmitt, 71, of Lowell, passed away on Oct. 30, 2025, at his home on the farm.

A celebration of Roy’s life will be held on Friday, Nov. 7th, at 12:00 p.m. at St. John’s Lutheran Church Salem-Lowell campus with Rev. Tim Gumm officiating. Family and friends may gather from 10:00 a.m. until the time of service. Burial will take place at the Lowell Cemetery.

Roy Leon Schmitt was born on February 14th, 1954, in Beaver Dam, the son of Leon “Butch” and Yvonne “Toby” (Rennhack) Schmitt. He graduated from Dodgeland High School in 1972 and was a lifelong member of St. John’s Salem-Lowell Lutheran Church. Roy married Christine K. Fenz on June 8, 1974, at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Watertown.

Roy was a devoted husband and father whose life centered on his family and farming. He and his wife Christine recently celebrated 54 years of farming on Sept. 24th. Roy started dairy farming right after high school purchasing his first small herd of cows from the Leonard’s farm auction and renting their barn growing the herd. A short time later Roy and Christine bought their home farm, milking 120 cows for most of their dairy farming career. They sold the cows in 2006 and Roy bought a dump truck where he enjoyed 15 years hauling for road projects. He continued farming throughout his life growing corn, soybeans and wheat, as well as, raising a small herd of red angus cattle.

Roy was also an avid turkey and deer hunter and enjoyed watching his children, grandchildren and nephews hunt both turkeys and deer. He went on three elk hunting trips in Colorado and came home from the first trip with one large 5X5 bull elk. Roy also loved fishing, making his own fishing pond on the farm and stocking it every spring with fish. Bullheads were his favorite.

In high school he was very active in Dodgeland FFA serving as vice president. He often talked about his time on the dairy judging team where they won first in state and the trip he took to Oklahoma for land judging with the FFA.

Over the past few years, he took up making maple syrup and enjoyed tapping and collecting sap from the trees in the big woods. He loved John Deere tractors and also enjoyed collecting and gifting hunting knives.

His wife was the love of his life and he often talked about finding her in the second grade. He was very proud of all of his kids and their spouses and he also was the biggest fan of all of his grandchildren in anything they did from sports to FFA and 4-H.

Roy is survived by his wife Christine; his children Allan (Kayla) Schmitt, of Waterloo, children Alyssa, Henry, Lorelai and Natalie; Amy (Jay) Panetti, of Waupun, children Avery, Leo and Campbell; Teresa (Ralph) Stowell, of Fox Lake, children Wyatt, Oscar, Lucy and Oliver; Crystal (Brandon) Soldner, of Lowell, children Braxton and Milo; Kimberley (Kurt) Swanson of Middleton, children Juniper and Viola. He is further survived by his siblings, John (Sandy) Schmitt, Bonnie (Kenneth) Guenther, Sue (Jerry) Ebert, Nancy Hussli, Frieda Kern, Cindy Kadinger, Marilea (Pat) Groves, Gina (Andrew) Oemig, and Leon (Annette) Schmitt; his sisters-in-law, Susan (Bob) Smithson and Karen (DuWayne) Grosenick, as well as, many nieces and nephews and friends.

Roy is preceded in death by his parents, Butch and Toby; his mother-in-law and father-in-law, Luanna and Walter Fenz; his brother-in-law, Bill Kern; his nephew, Tom Schmitt; and niece, Michelle Guenther.