Anthony Schmidt, Musician, owned recording studio, 90
deb...@comcast.net
By HEATHER ALLEN
NORTH PORT -- A hard-working man, whose fingers took to the strings of
a bass fiddle like magnets, Anthony Schmidt's life was marked by two
cornerstones: music and his marriage.
And, as life sometimes works, one led him to the other.
Gloria Schmidt still recalls the first time she saw him: Oct. 17, 1956.
Her birthday.
"He was nice looking," she recalled.
It must have been fate that placed them there that night.
He was strumming away on that old bass of his. He was performing with a
country band at that time, in New Jersey.
While taking a break, Anthony danced with one of her girlfriends, who
whispered in his ear: "Dance with Gloria."
"And that was it," Gloria Schmidt said.
On Aug. 25, 1959, the two were married.
Schmidt, 90, of North Port died July 30 at the Charlotte TideWell
Hospice House.
The couple would have celebrated their 47th wedding anniversary this
month.
The secret to their successful marriage -- the second for both --
Gloria said was "lots of love and respect."
They lived in Anthony's native Philadelphia. He owned a shoe repair
shop and a downtown recording studio: Impact Recordings. The shop paid
the bills, and the studio brought him joy.
"He loved just about anything with music," she said.
Anyone could record at the studio. Gloria remembers Spanish groups and
one of the Broadway Orphan Annies recording at the studio.
"I probably still have the tape somewhere ..." she said.
After raising a family together, the couple headed south.
"I said, 'You ought to see Florida,'" Gloria said.
They settled in North Port in 1973, where Gloria worked at Kmart for 20
years and Anthony took a job making cabinets.
Through tears, Gloria chuckled about his job, which he had no
experience doing or knowledge about, but it paid the bills.
"We worked hard," she said.
Anthony was a fixture in the "Versatones," which played for years
throughout Charlotte and Sarasota counties.
The Versatones performed dance music, "mainly for older couples."
Gloria said they played polkas, but also took requests.
Nearly 50 years after that first dance, Gloria said she will miss
"everything" about her husband.
In addition to his wife, Schmidt is survived by his children; Kay Stark
of Hartford, Conn., Howard of Issaquah, Wash., Mary Duffy and Betty
Bandura, both of New Jersey; and Philip Taylor of Tampa; a sister, Irma
Weissner of Beach Haven, N.J., and North Port; nine grandchildren; and
four great-grandchildren.
A memorial service will be scheduled later.