Johannes 'Hans' Schmitt

South Bristol - October 26, 2025. Hans is survived by his wife Renate (Gaertner) Schmitt; son, Eric (Audra) Schmitt; daughters, Birgit (Michael) Coffey & Elke Schmitt; grandchildren, David, Colton, Ian, Erica & Allison.

Calling hours will be on Thursday, October 30, from 4 - 6 PM at Fuller Funeral Home, Inc. 190 Buffalo Street, Canandaigua, NY 14424. A funeral mass will take place on Saturday, November 1, 2025, at 11:00 AM at St. Januarius Church, 180 N. Main Street, Naples, NY 14512.

Donations in Hans' memory can be made to: Light Hill, 5160 Parrish St. Ext., Canandaigua, NY 14424, or online at www.lighthillhome.org - the home away from home that Hans chose for his last weeks of life.

To share a memory or express condolences online please visit www.fullerfh.com

Read more about Hans’ life story…

Born May 11, 1940, in Leipzig, Germany, to Ludwig Schmitt and Kryzentia ‘Senta’ Faass Schmitt, Hans was the beloved baby brother to Brigitte and Lorle. Hans had a childhood filled with laughter and love, despite the war and his father's required military service. His mother and siblings left Leipzig for the safety of Senta’s tiny hometown of Pflaumloch in Schwaben. There, Hans spent 2 years on his grandparents’ farm, an experience that inspired his love for all things nature. Senta offered her fluency in English to provide interpreting services to the US Armed Forces stationed nearby. Hans and his sisters would see her drive off in an Army Jeep and return with gifts of chewing gum and chocolate. Senta even helped broker a truce between a US Commanding General and the local Bürgermeister. Senta regularly hosted US servicemen and fed them perfectly cooked (and dearly missed) hamburgers. A US Armed Forces Jeep arrived one day, bringing news of a man walking toward town, claiming to be Senta’s husband. He had been a prisoner of war in England, later transferred to France, and released to begin his long journey to find his family. Senta hopped in the Jeep and was driven out of town to locate her husband, Ludwig, and share the last leg of his long journey back to his family.

The Schmitt family returned to their home in Leipzig and resumed life after the war. The line between East and West was drawn, and Leipzig fell clearly under Stalin. There wasn’t a lot, but the family had what they needed, and it was identical to what every other family had. Hans was good at fixing things, and his mom called on him to repair things around the house, proudly saying “Mein Hannesle kann alles!” (“My little Hans can do everything!”). By age 14, Hans began an electric motor building apprenticeship and learned his trade well.

Hans’ older sister, Brigitte, and her husband went on vacation to West Germany, never to return to Communist East Germany, where one’s neighbors were likely informants, and the lack of freedom and individuality was stifling. The Schmitt family had to be careful and private with their family information. He grew up knowing how to play this game, but with every intention of not playing it for long. A visit from Hans’ Tante Louise and cousin Karen in 1960, relatives already established in the US, cemented plans for Hans to one day join them there.

Hans and his friends devised a plan to make their way to East Berlin, knowing that the information had to be kept from their families to be successful. Unfortunately, in the end, Hans was forced to make this journey on his own. The Berlin U-Bahn subway was still in operation between East and West Berlin. Hans successfully blended in with the commuter crowd and, after successfully arriving in West Berlin, made his way to the safety of a refugee camp. Hans had very few memories of the 3-week stay, which included daily interrogations and ended with a plane ticket arriving from his Tante Marie. Hans remembered the surreal flight from West Berlin to München, and thinking of the country, families, and friends he was leaving behind as he flew the route directly above East Germany.

Hans began his life in München with Tante Marie, his mom’s sister, and her husband, Hans Schmitt, who was his dad’s brother, and their daughter, Elfriede. He was let go early on from his first job, when he embarrassingly questioned why he had to pay a “Kirchensteuer” (church tax), a mandatory tax taken from his weekly pay, no matter how religious a person was. Once he landed a second job at Metzeler Reifenhersteller, a motorcycle tire company, he began to save his money and, hopefully, get the letter of recommendation he would need to start his new life in America.

To prepare for this trip, Hans traveled to the American Consulate in Frankfurt to complete the necessary paperwork and pay the required fees (the cost of a return ticket), to secure legal entry into the US. Hans signed an agreement that registered him with the Selective Service System, in the event he was needed to serve in the US forces.

By January 1961, Hans said his goodbyes and thank yous to the Münchener Schmitt family and took a train to Bremerhaven to begin his journey on the SS United States, America’s Flagship, considered the fastest ship in the world. He chose a January crossing for its half-price ticket. Hans had a nice excursion, befriending many on the ship. Hans especially remembers a very friendly man who paid for Hans’ drinks and asked (too many) questions about his voyage. Although the ship typically took only 5 days to complete the journey, a storm lengthened the trip by 2 days. Late to arrive in New York City, Hans was handed a telegram from the captain, alerting him that his family from Rochester, NY was unable to pick him up and he should take a taxi to 2nd Avenue and 45th Street. Just as Hans was entering a taxi-cab, his cousin Karen pulled him out, questioning where he was going, as she had been waiting 2 days to greet him off the ship. Hans’ best guess was that the friendly-drink-buying man was working as an informant for the Communist East. Karen and Hans took a Greyhound bus to Rochester, where Hans would begin the next chapter of his life.

Hans found his first American job at F-A Motors in Rochester and began meeting other German immigrants around Rochester, developing friendships that would last a lifetime. By 1962, Hans was working in a machine shop at Bausch & Lomb, dating Renate Gaertner, enjoying camping with friends at the Rochester Touristen Verein in Lima, and spending time with Renate’s Uncle Ernie and Tante Elsie as they built their home on County Road 33 in South Bristol. In 1963, Hans received a Selective Service letter ordering him to report for induction into the US Army. Hans arrived at Fort Dix, NJ for basic training and was later assigned to Fort Hood, TX, for advanced infantry training. Hans, with limited English proficiency, was often misinterpreted as being insubordinate. Needless to say, he did his fair share of push-ups as a result. One comfort was a German native friend he met at Fort Dix, Manfred Holl, who, coincidentally, was also assigned to Fort Hood, and remained his lifelong friend, becoming part of his extended family in the US. While away in the US Army, Hans and Renate planned for their future together, and Renate purchased a 5-acre lot on the corner of Mosher Road and County Road 33 in South Bristol.

Hans took a 2-week leave to return to Rochester at the end of 1963, and Renate and Hans were married on December 28, 1963. Together, Renate and Hans began their next chapter, living off-base in Gainesville, TX, until Hans was discharged in 1965. Hans and Renate packed all of their belongings into their rebuilt MGB and drove north to start their life in Rochester, NY, living with Renate’s Tante Rosa Bindert and enjoying every weekend in the 24-foot permanent trailer on their 5 acres in South Bristol. They later purchased the adjacent land and had a pond dug on the property. Hans built a circle of friends called the Wix Klub 1910. They played and watched soccer together, raised their families together, and created a German, Austrian, and Hungarian extended family here in Rochester.

In 1965, Eastman Kodak hired Hans to work under Jim Passarella in Building 156 Special Machining and Assembly at the Hawkeye plant. Jim advised Hans to buy a home on Southridge Drive in Greece, knowing that this department would be moving to the Elmgrove plant. Hans enjoyed working with his bench partner, Gabe Cialini, a good friend and mentor. Gabe and Hans were a formidable team, entrusted with building and polishing injection lens molds, one of Kodak’s most pioneering and successful technologies.

Eric was born in 1967, and Birgit and Elke followed in 1970 and 1972. Hans and Renate’s property in South Bristol became the center of memorable gatherings with friends and family.

By 1977, Jim encouraged Hans to apply for a Department Head position in Consumer Assembly. Hans agreed, but only if he could leave his toolbox with Jim, in case he wanted to return. Hans built a strong friendship with his new Supervisor, Ralph Rosati, who later teamed up with Hans to open the Ski Shack, a ski shop on West Ridge Road in Greece. Hans later took a position as Head of the Tool Room, overseeing 375 tool and die instrument mold makers. During this time, Hans began planning to build a Lok-N-Logs log home on the now 10-acre property in South Bristol. With his wife and circle of friends by his side, Hans built his cherished custom log cabin, which later became their home.

By 1987, Hans took a position at Estek, an Eastman Kodak Co. subsidiary, making equipment for the semiconductor manufacturers. He enjoyed the freedom of finding and hiring the best team to make the best product. By the 1990s, Hans finished his career working at a Kodak company called Light Valve Technology (LVT), leading the manufacture of an ultra-high resolution, continuous tone Film Recorder. Hans retired in 1995 to begin the next chapter.

In retirement, Hans enjoyed learning new things daily and working hard. He enjoyed skiing at Bristol Mountain and assisted the Ski Patrol as a Mountain Host for many years. He worked in landscaping, construction, engine repair, caring for his orchard, and tending his vast vegetable garden. Hans found peace and enjoyment mapping out his garden each winter, ordering his seeds, starting the seeds in his greenhouse, preparing his garden, and finally, planting, maintaining, and harvesting. He took pride in his tidy, organized garden. All lucky visitors left with some of Hans’ daily harvest. He and Renate took great care of their home & property and considered none of it work, “It was a labor of love.”

But most of all, Hans is remembered by his family as a loving Opa to his grandchildren Colton, David, Ian, Erica, and Allison. As much as Opa loved this garden and orchard, his grandkids were truly the apples of his eye, and each one has a special memory of their Opa. Colton enjoyed working with Opa in the garden, taking care of the property in Bristol, and ending the day with a bath in the pond and an ice-cold beer. David remembers meals with Opa’s German recipes and picking garlic together at harvest time, which was no small feat with over 800 garlic plants. Opa started ‘The Bristol Project’ with Ian, Erica, and Allison and he made a list of important goals for them to work toward, goals they will remember for a lifetime: value friendship, always offer support to one another, live off the land, and help others.

In 2019, Hans was diagnosed with head and neck cancer and began the 6-year battle to stay healthy enough to continue doing what he loved. He was thankful for the care he received from all of his doctors and providers. His last 3 weeks were spent under the loving care of Suzie Underhill and her family of volunteers at www.lighthillhome.org.

Renate and the Schmitt family thank everyone for their friendship and support.