Today, we pay respect to Lieselotte Pruess Schmidt, the "Piano Coach" for son Jon Schmidt

France had the Joan of Arc; America had Eleanor Roosevelt; Germany had "Lottie" Pruess, but little did they know they had a Jewel in their midst. She was born in Hamburg, two years before Germany's Great Depression of 1928. When a young enthusiastic speaker and motivator came along, Germans had guarded hope about Adolf Hitler, but in defense of the Fatherland, the Third Reich had many young men signing up for enlistment. It wasn't long before the Pruess family and other members of their small LDS neighborhood came to know the real Hitler. Those who spoke out were arrested and imprisoned and to show they meant business, the Nazi's beheaded neighbor Helmuth Huebner. In July, 1943, during "Operation Gomorrah" Allied Bombers dropped their payload on Hamburg, killing 40,000 people. One bomb dropped on the Pruess home and before it burned down, they had a few moments to grab important papers......and their prized piece of furniture-the family piano which gave them solace and comfort. During the War, Lottie had her eyes on another local Mormon named Werner Schmidt, who was trained to operate the famous fighting machine called the "Tiger Tank". After his release from a POW camp, they were married and came to America and became true Americans, but never forgetting their noble heritage. Lottie could never quite shake off the emotional terror of war, and did what many Germans did well....learn that music was an important element of healing. She insisted their five kids learn music and saw special talent in son Jon Schmidt. In a Salt Lake high school, Jon liked playing football, but the loving discipline of his mother won out, especially when she called the football coach on a weekly basis to remind him that Jon needed to come home for piano practice. He became a world renown piano player, and founding member of the "PianoGuys". In attending the funeral in Salt Lake, I learned that beautiful music........is beautiful, regardless of the language. In tribute to Lottie, one of the speakers said a few words, then started to sing the often heard hymn of "God Be With You Til We Meet Again", and the congregation joined in with a melancholy blend of German and English. When Jon Schmidt played his mothers favorite song, one could feel the presence of his mother smiling on high, and perhaps standing with the likes of Beethoven and Mozart. Well done Lady Lieselotte Pruess Schmidt.