Former Courthouse figure Butch Schiedemeyer dies

There are a lot things you wouldn’t expect a blind person to do: Play poker, bowl, approve a set of building plans or make change for a twenty-dollar bill.

Francis “Butch” Schiedemeyer, who was totally blind for most of his life, did them all.

He could even hold his own in a game of horseshoes provided that someone tapped on the stake so he could zero in on the sound.

“It’s kind of embarrassing when you get beat by a blind man,” said Schiedemeyer’s brother, Jim.

Schiedemeyer, who died earlier this month at the age of 92, probably was best known as the guy who ran the concession stand at the Milwaukee County Courthouse in the 1960s and '70s.

Judges, lawyers, cops and defendants stopped by the stand to buy a newspaper or one of the hard-boiled eggs that Schiedemeyer made at home the night before.

He could count pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters, but If customers gave him paper money he would take their word that a five was five and a ten was a ten.

“Occasionally, someone would stiff him,” Jim said.

Schiedemeyer ran the stand with his wife, Edith, who died in 2002, for 17 years.

In 1976, Schiedemeyer was embroiled in a dispute when a food service company won a contract to operate a restaurant on the ground floor of the courthouse next to his stand. The company, which had the exclusive right to sell food, complained about the stand selling food.

In addition to his hard-boiled eggs, Schiedemeyer offered sandwiches and a few other items.

Eventually, the county ordered Schiedemeyer to stop selling food.

He closed the stand in 1980.

Before running the concession stand, he had a woodworking business that he ran out of his garage, though it produced meager income and often he gave away his creations, which included bird houses, doll furniture and crosses inscribed in Braille with words such as “Peace” and “Love.”

He also had his own bowling team, Butch's Blind Bowlers, that got second place in a national tournament in 1956.

One of 12 children, Schiedemeyer was born in LeRoy, Wis., in 1924.  As a child he developed scarlet fever, which eventually led to him going totally blind by age 20.

Throughout his life, he was active with the Badger Home for the Blind, including in the 1960s when he served on a committee that had to approve the building plans for the organization’s new home.

Schiedemeyer had the blueprints done in Braille.

He also carried around a set of Braille playing cards, which he used for poker, sheepshead and cribbage.

Schiedemeyer died Jan. 7 from complications of old age, his brother said.

In addition to his brother, Jim, Schiedemeyer is survived by two other brothers, Daniel of Mukwonago and Cyril of Colgate; and two sisters, Arlene Doleschy of Greendale and Shirley Sauppe of DeWitt, Iowa.

A vigil will be held at Krause Funeral Home, 9000 W. Capitol Drive, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Thursday. Visitation will be at the Krause Funeral Home on Friday at 10 a.m. until a service at 11 a.m.