Jim Schuldt had all the qualities we would love to see in all Lions….
A love for his community
A love for Lionism
But most importantly a love for family!
He was a wonderful caring son, a great dad and he absolutely loved being a “Grand Pa”!
Born in Streator, IL in 1956, Jim was the oldest of 3 sons born to James T. and Elizabeth B. (Barbara) Schuldt. He was raised in “Old Carpentersville” and was a graduate of Dundee Community High School in 1975. Jim was a West Dundee firefighter/ paramedic for 35 years, retiring in 2015 having earned the rank of Lieutenant. Jim had 2 children, son J.T and daughter,Cori and 7 Grandchildren.
At the time of his unexpected death in 2022, Jim had been a Lion for 7 years and was currently serving as Vice President for the Club, Service Chair and Christmas Tree Sales Chair. However he had been involved with the Christmas tree sales as a volunteer for many years prior. He had been heavily involved with the Lions Basketball Tournament and was responsible for helping build strong links in the community, particularly with Randall Oaks Park District where he had worked for some years.
In the late 90’s, Jim’s wife, Barb, was a member of the First United Methodist Church of West Dundee and really wanted him to get more involved with the Church. However, joining the church choir wasn’t really Jim’s thing! Things changed though when the church got involved with Habitat for Humanity and Jim volunteered to be the “Crew Chief,” supervising and directing the construction on house builds.
In 2003, Jim was part of a group from Dundee to attend the “Jimmy Carter work project”, a project which successfully built 36 homes in 1 week in the town of Anniston, Alabama. Jim drove down there with all the Dundee tools loaded in his brown pick-up truck. The team spent a very hot, steamy week in the South constructing a home for an older, single mom with a son in a wheelchair. The home was sponsored by The Lions of Alabama and was fully wheelchair accessible. Jim was “Co-Crew Chief” for the construction of this home.
During this same period, Jim also started to become active in our Lions Christmas Tree Sales even though he was not a member of the Club! As an active volunteer and West Dundee citizen, Jim was actively encouraged to join the Lions but always refused, saying he wouldn’t join until he retired. True to his word, Jim joined Dundee Township Lions immediately on retirement in 2015!
While with the Lions, Jim loved doing the food concessions for the concerts in the parks. As Service Chair, he would carry everything the club needed for these events in his truck! At one concert in Carpenter’s Park, Jim sent out his grandson, Landon, with Mike Buhrmann’s granddaughter Molly, both of them about 8 years of age, to sell popcorn. The smile on Jim’s face was priceless when the kids returned with an empty box and fistfuls of dollars! There is no better feeling than having your family servicing the community at a young age!
Jim became a Melvin Jones Fellow posthumously, His award was presented to his son J.T at Jim’s funeral. Never has an award been so richly deserved!