Wilder, Vt. — Harald Ullrich Schmidtke was born on Aug. 11th, 1955 in Singen am Hohentwiel, Germany to Mariechen Theresa Schmidtke and Werner Franz Schmidtke. His family moved to the United States in 1956 and settled in Ardmore, Pa. where Harald and his six siblings grew up. By the mid 1970s Harald was loving life living in St. Petersburg, Fla. where he worked at The Bo Tree, a small co-operative health food store. Harald spent the last 25 years of his life working for SEVCA (Southeastern Vermont Community Action) as a senior manager and Weatherization Director where he and his team provided weatherization assistance to low income families. His strong dedication to helping others was a central part of who he was and the SEVCA community was always like a second family to him.
Harald died on the morning of Monday April 2, 2018 after an intense battle with liver cancer. He is survived by his wife Tayo, and their three children — Nicole, 28, Maxwell, 31, and Carolyn, 33. He is also survived by his sister Heidi and brothers Juergen, Peter, and Bodo.
Harald enjoyed playing golf, rooting for his Philadelphia Eagles, traveling around the West, enjoying a good breakfast, his job at SEVCA, and spending time with his family. Harald was a wonderful man whose outstanding devotion to helping and bettering his community made him a respected figure and his infectious laugh and fun loving spirit made him a treat to be around. He will be sorely missed.
Per Harald’s wishes, there will not be a formal funeral or memorial service.
However, please don’t hesitate to reach out his family with any fond or fun memories of him that you would like to share. In lieu of flowers, please consider making a tax-deductible donation to SEVCA to help those struggling in Southeastern Vermont.