Date of death: 1/1/2023
Saint Meinrad Class: T 1986
Daniel Patrick Schmitz, 63, passed away peacefully while surrounded by family on January 1, 2023.
He was born on September 24, 1959, to Dick & Alma Schmitz in Tulsa, OK, the third of their four sons. He attended School of St. Mary, and Bishop Kelley High School, graduating in 1977. He attended and graduated from Oklahoma State University with his Bachelor of Science in Management, with a minor in Marketing. From there, Dan attended Saint Meinrad Seminary, in Saint Meinrad, Indiana, from 1981 to 1984, earning a Master of Theology. During this time, he had a pastoral year at the parish of the Sacred Heart in Muskogee, OK, before returning to Tulsa. When this door was closed, God opened another window for him. He found a short-term job as a teacher’s assistant at Stoia Learning Center. During this time, he started to date the love of his life, Kay McMahon. After his year at Stoia was over, he started working at the Tulsa City County Library downtown. Dan and Kay were married on October 17, 1987, at Church of St. Mary. During the fall of 1989, shortly before the birth of their first child, Bishop Kelley High School reached out to Dan to see if he would like to teach theology at his alma mater. He remembered how rewarding teaching young minds was and realized this was the calling God intended. After about a decade in the Theology department, he moved to the Business department to teach computer software. When he was hired, he was asked to coach girls’ tennis as well. He accepted this offer because of the stipend that was given. Unbeknownst to him, this became another calling. He coached the girl’s team until 2002. As head coach Dan won 5A State titles twice (1995, 1997) and 5A State runner-up five other times. He was also the representative for the school swim team for a few years. In 2016, he missed coaching tennis and became the assistant boys’ tennis coach and helped to lead them to a state championship in 2019. He wore many hats for Bishop Kelley. Dan worked tirelessly and meticulously with all BK coaches to compile statistics and records for the Bishop Kelley Comet programs, ensuring a preservation of the rich history for the school he loved so much. He also was a key part of the development and continuation of the BK Athletic Hall of Champions. Up until the COVID19 pandemic, he was the golf cart transporter of students with mobility challenges, usually due to athletic injuries, between the main building and the STC. In 2006 he was awarded the De La Salle Award. He was in his 34th year of teaching when he passed.
Dan also loved researching family history for not only the Schmitz family, but also his wife’s family. Many times, a family vacation included stopping at cemeteries to look for the gravesites of ancestors. He had made connections with relatives around the country and even with one in Germany during his research. He had over 9,000 names in his Family Tree Maker program, having gathered this information to create a family book of generational history for three family branches. This, of course, was shared with his family members.
Dan is survived by his wife Kay and two children Maggie and Matt, his father Dick, brothers Paul & his wife Janet, of Broken Arrow, Mike & his wife Sarah, of Okmulgee, and Tim of Tulsa, as well as numerous in-laws, nieces, nephews, grandnieces, and grandnephews. He is preceded in death by his mother Alma and nephew Adam Schmitz.