Donna J. Schmidtke

Donna Schmidtke, 73, of New Buffalo, passed away Friday, February 15, 2008 at Lakeland Hospital in St. Joseph. A Celebration of life service will be held at 1:00 P.M. Tuesday at Starks and Menchinger Family Funeral Home, 2650 Niles Road, St. Joseph with Rev. Roth officiating. Burial will follow at Riverview Cemetery. Friends may call from 5:00 P.M. until 8:00P.M. Monday at the funeral home. Memorials may be made in memory of Donna Schmidtke. Those wishing to share a memory or sign the guest book online may do so at www.starks-menchinger.com. Mrs. Schmidtke was born April 27, 1934 in Grand Ledge, Michigan to Perl & Beatrice (McCutcheon) Richards. She graduated from Lakeshore High School. On September 8, 1951, she married Robert F. Schmidtke in St. Joseph. He preceded her in death on May 12, 1978. Donna was the owner of Donna’s place in New Buffalo for many years. Donna loved gardening and feeding the animals around her house. She also enjoyed spending time with family and friends. Mrs. Schmidtke is survived by her two daughters Linda (Larry) Castle of St. Joseph, Gail (Dennis) Switzer of Waco TX; four sons Steven (Lori) Schmidtke of Stevensville, Robert Jr. Schmidtke of Grand Rapids, Michael of New Buffalo and Richard (Shonna) Schmidtke of Waco TX; seventeen grandchildren and nine great grandchildren; one sister Dorothy Terry of Battle Creek MI; In addition to her husband she was preceded in death by her parents and son Gary.