Louis Schmitz, Farmington hockey pioneer, died Dec. 30

Louis Schmitz, who helped start Farmington’s first youth hockey league and organized the city’s first girls hockey program decades before the sport was recognized at the high school level, died Dec. 30 from complications related to stomach cancer. Schmitz, 85, was at home when he died. He was born to John and Anna Schmitz Aug. 21, 1926 in Red Lake Falls.