Vicki Schmitz has been part of the West Seattle story for decades but never more so than when she married Alan Schmitz in 1968. The Schmitz family became an indelible part of local history through their philanthropy, careers and their civic participation.
Photo by Patrick Robinson
By Patrick Robinson
If you know anything about West Seattle, you will recognize the last name Schmitz. While the name is known, the story behind it is less so.
The standard bearer of the name for decades now has been Vicki Schmitz and in a conversation with Westside Seattle we explored her personal history and how the Schmitz family came to be woven into the fabric of the West Seattle community.
Vicki was born in Seattle in1940 as Vicki Lee living in Riverton Heights and at age five moved to 44th SW and SW Graham Street in West Seattle. Her father was a King County Sheriff and her mother was a homemaker. The family moved to Kent when she was eight, for her father to take the job as first Chief of Police. She attended school in Kent, graduating from Kent Meridian High School in 1957 and moved on to the University of Washington, where she studied English.
She intended to teach but her student teaching experience was not what she would eventually choose as a career. She was single in Seattle and at one point she met a man named Alan Schmitz, who happened to be dating her roommate. This was in the early 1960’s but clearly she made an impression on him since a few years later, after a brief encounter at a restaurant he called her and asked to take her sailing. They were married in November 30, 1968.
She had two children with Alan. The family lived in Magnolia until 1980. She worked a series of jobs after leaving teaching including some early jobs, but primarily worked for the Port of Seattle and later King County.
She really had no idea of the Schmitz family history in the community at the time. That history would come to shape West Seattle in important ways. After Alan’s father died, Vicki and Alan moved into the Schmitz home at 4400 Beach Drive SW in 1980 to live with Alan’s mother. “Thinking that I had to move in with my Mother-in Law was absolutely the last thing I wanted to do,” said Vicki, “and it turned to be one of the best things that ever happened. She was dellightful, and even though she was declining, she was a brilliant, entertaining, charming woman. I learned so much from her.”
She had learned about her husband’s family along the way but until she moved back to West Seattle she did not fully understand, “how they were completely devoted to public service and giving back.”
She shared some remarkable aspects of it with Westside Seattle.
“Ferdinand Schmitz was born in Germany in 1861 and stowed away aboard a ship sailing to New York at age 16. He was discovered by the crew during the voyage and put to work. They planned to have him sent back to Germany but during their stop in New York something remarkable happened. Ferdinand was allowed to go with the crew as they toured the city. They stopped into a German bakery and the woman behind the counter must have taken a shine to Ferdinand. In those days women wore “hoop skirts” and she told him to hide under her skirt. As the crew prepared to leave she told them Ferdinand had left. He worked at the bakery for a while then made his way, likely by ship again to San Francisco and then eventually to Seattle.
Ferdinand was by all accounts a charming man, a hard worker and saved his money, parlaying it into enough to buy land and buildings, within 10 years becoming successful enough to manage, with partner Dietrich Hamm the Butler Hotel at 2nd and James.
The hotel was originally a three story wooden structure but in 1889 the most destructive event in the city’s history, the Great Seattle Fire occurred. It destroyed 25 city blocks, four wharves and the railroad terminal. After the fire the city was rebuilt, this time using bricks and the Butler Hotel was part of that effort.
As fate would have it, Ferdinand had sent for his childhood sweetheart Emma Althof to come to Seattle. While travelling from Germany, the fire struck and she arrived four days afterward, the city still smoldering.
Ferdinand and Emma lived downtown, at first in tents, then eventually in a home, where they raised three children and shared space with three German relatives. In the summers they would make the journey to West Seattle where they would camp out along Beach Drive, and would later build cabins. In 1903 Ferdinand bought well over 50 acres of land in West Seattle and by 1905 they had built a large 17 room cabin they named San Souci (French for No Worries”) In 1967 it was torn down, and Me-Kwa-Mooks Park was established in its place. That name means ‘Prairie Point’ and comes from the Lashootseed-speaking people. Eleven acres of the original 40-acre estate comprise the Emma Schmitz Memorial Overlook across the street and along the shore.
In 1908 Ferdinand and Emma donated 35 acres of land to the city with the condition that it never be logged, That land became Schmitz Preserve Park, one of the last stands of old growth forest in Seattle. Ferdinand also served as Parks Commissioner from 1908 to 1914. Additions to the park were purchased in 1909, 1930, 1947, and 1958, growing the park by more than 20 acres. He also served as a member of the Seattle City Council.
The land for Schmitz Park Elementary at the southwest corner of the park was allowed to be used by Seattle Public Schools. The first Schmitz Park School was an all-portable facility developed in the early 1950s to relieve crowding at Genesee Hill and Lafayette Elementaries. The land was sold the land in 1961 to the district for $1 dollar. Over time more portables were added until a permanent single-story building was erected on the enlarged site in 1962.
In January 2018 the Seattle City Council authorized the purchase of a 5,000-sq. ft. lot at the southeast edge of the park from Bruce Stotler for $225,000, less than half its assessed value.
But Vicki Schmitz had other twists of fate in her life. In 2012 Alan passed away. During her career she had become a public affairs specialist and manager for the County Executive.
She had met Port of Seattle Commissioner Jack Block and knew him and his wife and family but after Jack’s wife passed he began to woo Vicki. They went to lunch which led to dinner. “He was charming and wonderful and at point I said, ‘Look Jack, I think you are really looking for a wife, and you probably need a wife. I am not the right person. I’m not the person you should be wooing and I will tell you why. We are polar opposites. You are a liberal labor Democrat, and I am not. I’m the other side of the spectrum. I have two kids and I’m not about to jump into bed with someone I’m dating, so to speak. So find someone else. There are lots of people out there,’ but little did I know. He doubled down on his efforts with me. He was taking me out meet his children and families. I finally gave up! Being married to Jack Block was a delight in many ways but it was more of an adventure than a traditional marriage because we were both older. We had an awfully good time.”
Prior to their marriage they both had physicals. Vicki’s was fine but they found colon cancer in Jack, “Which led to a whole other adventure,” said Vicki, “but I told him don’t ever think that I didn’t save your life.”
The couple were part of many community events and often joked with each other that both of them had parks with their name on it.
The waterfront park along Harbor Ave SW opened in 1998 as part of the Port of Seattle’s redevelopment of Terminal 5 and was dedicated and named after former Port Commissioner Jack Block in 2001.
They remained married until Jack passed in 2020.
The example set by the Schmitz family serving the public good, showing generosity of spirit and caring deeply about the future had a powerful impact on the community and was carried on even by Vicki’s son Dietrich who has served as a volunteer Chaplain for the Seattle Police Department.
Since retirement Vicki too has served on boards, volunteered for many events and does her best to give back. “That’s the kind of thing we all need to think about. It can be small. You don’t have to give fifty acres of land. You can give an hour of your time by going to read to children at a school. You can give an hour of your time at church…That’s what keeps me going. That’s what I really enjoy. I’m proud to say, when people ask me, ‘Where are you from?’ I say West Seattle.”
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