Hot Rods Rolling bones Ken Schmidt Passing.

An Artiste in many ways! Farewell, Ken.

 

Bummer. Godspeed Ken.Snowman ☃️

 

Rest in peace, Ken - our condolences to your family.

 

Sad to hear this. Godspeed Ken.

 

Sad to see that. He took having fun with cars to a pretty high level.

 

Not only hot rod fame, he was a great artist ! His works, a self painting & covered wagon May he rest in peace !

 

Sad News
R.I.P.
Prayers to Family
2016 We met the Bones having breakfast at the Twin Rocks Trading Post and exchanged stories
and gifts, Still wear my Bones Cap
From Aussies

 

A sad day indeed. RIP Ken.

 

Sad day for hot rodders around the globe. R.I.P.

 

Great guy.

 

God Bless Ken and all his family

 

Another one from Speed Week last year of Ken (black shirt and hat behind the car) introducing my son (in the blue shirt) to some of his friends. My son will remember the experience forever the way he treated him with respect even as a young guy. Ken will be missed and seems like a good example for some of the rest of us to follow when it comes to taking the time with young guys.

 

Terrible news. We did not get to garage night this year, hate myself now.
May he RIP. Condolonces to his family and all his friends.

 

They had a special I watched on my Firestick, guess it was an hour long, maybe there were a couple of them. An amazing group of dedicated real grass-roots rodders. RIP.

 

Packed a lot into one lifetime, RIP.

 

If you haven't seen it...watch 3 Mile. Great video about Rolling Bones driving to Bonneville, and all the drama on the trip. Plus everything they went through after they got there, trying to set a record. Just shows, just because a shop builds a customer car, doesn't mean it all goes smooth, haha.

 

Ken may be gone, but he will damn sure be remembered.

 

Great guy to roll along with on many Bones Reliability Runs years ago !

 

He amazed everyone here with the Rolling Bones look. I found an article in the Fall 1971 Rod & Custom Street Rod Quarterly on two Model A's built by the Schmidt brothers, Ken and Jim. Is that him? I would include it here but I am having trouble with my scanner.

 

Gold I believe that is correct.
He lost his brother way back, way too young.

 

A good friend who will be missed.

 

I knew him well!
A great guy! I did a few trips with him , always fun!
He will be missed!!!
RIP ol'Buddy

 

Kens brother went way to young. He was an instructor at boces, teaching auto body. Great guy and yes they built a gorgeous A coupe. I was in a car club with Jim. May they both R.I.P.

 

Godspeed!

 

RIP Hotrodder and Artist...may the afterlife be just as fast...chopped to the max and lead by that fearless Mascot, Bones.....you sure lived life around vintage steel that rocks on like Thunder from the yesteryear...

Regards, Stogy

 

Ken's obit has now been posted by Armer Funeral Home in Ballston Spa.

Kenneth W. Schmidt, 76, of Ballston Spa died peacefully at home on March 20, 2023 from complications related to bile duct cancer. He was born April 23, 1946 in Schenectady, NY to Clifford and Gertrude (Foreman) Schmidt.


Growing up on a farm in Charlton, NY, he earned his BOA degree from New York Institute of Technology, Fine Arts Division. In 1969 Ken married his high school sweetheart Patty. That year they moved to Stillwater where Ken taught high school art and coached football and wrestling, establishing the school’s first wrestling team

.

Ken taught himself post and beam construction methods and built many post and beam homes during his summer breaks from teaching. Ken and his family have lived in the post and beam house he built for 40 years. Ken left teaching in 1989 to pursue a career successfully marketing his Western art work from New York to California. He then started a post-retirement career designing and racing classic Bonneville Hot Rods. Ken met so many wonderful people in his travels through teaching, coaching, in the art world, and through his passion for building and racing cars. He authored two books with beautiful photographs of their car builds and wrote about many of their car adventures.


Ken was predeceased by his parents Clifford and Gertrude Schmidt of Charlton, NY and by his brother James Schmidt, also of Charlton, NY.


He is survived by his wife of 53 years, Patty; son Mathew (his kind and dear wife Emily) Schmidt; and cherished daughter Rachel Cintula. He is also survived by his most cherished grand children Marshall, Cadee, Willa and Cooper.


The family wishes to thank Dr. John Delmonte, Jordyn Theim PA-C and his amazing nurses (Debbi with her amazing lasagna) and his entire staff. This team helped Ken navigate his illness with dignity, respect and candor, giving him the years he needed to complete his dream of writing the two books that chronicled the beautiful cars they built.


Relatives and friends are invited to calling hours on Wednesday, March 29 from 3pm to 5pm at Armer Funeral Home, Inc., 39 East High Street, Ballston Spa. A service will follow at 5pm at the funeral home.


In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions in Ken’s memory may be made to Community Hospice of Saratoga County, or any charity of your choice.

 

@Moriarity Maybe you should add Rolling Bones to the title. Not many responses as they might not know his name. He has created a style of Hot Rods that will leave a mark in the history books. Kind of like Westergard style, and a resto rod. Now we have the Rolling Bones style. The obituary was well written, not a style I`m used to seeing.

 

I meet Ken and Keith many years ago at the Nats. in York Pa. Great people, hung out with them and the cars all weekend. It was hard to get pictures of the cars sometimes. these guys do not sit still, we drove all over the place for 4 days. R.I.P. Ken, a great loss to the hot rod world. I and many others will never forget him. I will have to watch 3 mile again, one of the best videos out there on REAL hot rods and adventures with them.

 

Godspeed, Ken.

 

What a sad day. I loved his art work long before the cars. The western art is all over my home and shop. What a great guy, he will be missed!