Rev. Carl G. Schmahl Dies at Home in Town of Mosel
The Rev. Carl G. Schmahl, pastor of St. Mark's Evangelical and Reformed Church
in the Town of Mosel and St. James Evangelical and Reformed Church in the Town
of Meeme for the past 25 years, died Saturday at his home in the Town of Mosel.
He was 53.
A native of the Town of Rhine, he was born June 23, 1905, a son of the late Henry
and Catherine Reineck Schmahl, and was confirmed at Trinity Reformed Church in
Elkhart Lake on March 31, 1918, by the Rev. Otto J. Vriesen.
He received his elementary education at Lime Ridge School District No. 5 in the
Town of Rhine and was graduated from Elkhart Lake High School in 1923. In the
fall he enrolled in Sheboygan County Normal School and was graduated from there
in May, 1924. The following year he taught at the Guenther Rural School in
Marathon County.
In the fall of 1925, he enrolled at Sheboygan Business College where he also
served as a part-time instructor. After completing the business course in June,
1926, he accepted a position as bookkeeper at Sell Brothers Co., Sheboygan.
On Nov. 8, 1926, he was stricken with polio. Helpless and completely paralyzed,
he suffered for six months before his strength slowly began to return. It was
during the following two years of recuperation that he became inspired by the
miracle of his almost complete recovery and decided to enter the ministry.
He enrolled at Mission House College and Seminary in February, 1930, and was
graduated in June, 1934. A few days after his graduation he was ordained a
minister of the Evangelical and Reformed Church at Trinity Reformed Church in
Elkhart Lake.
In January 1934, he accepted a call to serve at the Mosel and Meeme Evangelical
and Reformed Parish following the sudden death of the Rev. William H. Leonhard.
And in May of the same year, he accepted the congregation's request to serve as
pastor of both churches.
He has served the two congregations since.
His marriage to Miss Emelia E. Bohne of Cleveland was solemnized on Feb. 6, 1937,
by the Rev. E. C. Jaberg of Sheboygan. She died four years later.
On May 22, 1938, he dedicated the new St. Mark's Church and during the past year,
he guided St. James Congregation with a vast remodeling project and the construction
of an additional wing to the church.
Surviving are a daughter, a brother, Fred of Glenbeulah, and two sisters, Mrs.
Justina Kuhn of Elkhart Lake and Miss Minnie Schmahl of Glenbeulah. Five sisters
and a brother also preceded him in death. (Survivors edited for privacy)
Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Tuesday at St. Mark's Church in the Town
of Mosel. The Rev. E. L. Hennig of Schwartzwald, the Rev. John Scheib of Appleton,
the Rev. W. C. Beckmann of Mission House Seminary, and Dr. Arthur Krueger,
president of Lakeland College and Mission House Seminary, will officiate. Burial
will be in St. James Cemetery in the town of Meeme.
Friends may call at the Stoltenberg Funeral Chapel at Cleveland until 11 a.m.
Tuesday and then at the church beginning at noon.
The Sheboygan Press – Monday, February 23, 1959 – P. 12.