Listen to this story on the LWML On The Go podcast
Do you know people who are “movers and shakers” — people who pursue their goals with relentless energy, always on the move? Think about Jesus, our perfect example: He came to earth to spread the Good News and was literally always on the move as He walked throughout Galilee (see Mark 1:39) with His saving message. He kept moving forward despite many setbacks.
Clara Schmitt was also a mover and a shaker. She spent most of her adult life relentlessly pursuing her goal to develop a national women’s group to support missions through The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod.
Born in 1878, Clara grew up at a time when women mainly served as wives and mothers. One of the few girls in her St. Louis high school class of 1895, she was offered a four-year scholarship to Washington University, but she turned it down to work in her father’s company, the Senniger and Schmitt Wallpaper and Painting Company. When her father died, she married his business partner, Otto Schmitt, and became a co-owner of the company.
Clara used her gifts and talents in her home, as well as while working in the family business. With managing a household of their three children (and many pets, including dogs, snakes, canaries, and a wolf), she certainly was busy! At times, Clara’s mother and mother-in-law also lived with them. When Viola, their daughter, became a widow at a young age, she joined the household along with her five small children. One of those children, Rev. Kenneth Young, recalled that the home was filled with fun and laughter. He remembered Clara as kind and talented, a good speaker, and a great organizer.
With Otto’s blessing, Clara used her gifts and talents in their church, too, organizing mission outreach projects. She realized that if women in congregations throughout the USA worked together, much more could be accomplished. For 14 years, she traveled around the country speaking to groups, working with LCMS leaders, pastors, laymen, and congregational women, while relentlessly pursuing her goal.
The work was long and tedious. Many pastors did not want the women to organize. Finally, at the 1938 LCMS convention, Clara and several other women presented resolutions to establish a national LCMS official women’s group. The Lutheran Women’s Missionary League (LWML) was born in 1942. Clara, elected president, served until 1947. She passed into God’s loving arms in 1950. In her memory, the LWML purchased a baptismal font for Christ Church for the Deaf in Cleveland, the recipient of its first mission grant.
Clara set an example for all women of the church to Serve the LORD with gladness! (Psalm 100:2), prayerfully moving forward despite setbacks. At one point, Clara’s hair caught fire from her hair dryer. Not to be stopped, after her scalp healed, she bought a wig and continued working toward her goal. Her influence continues today through thousands of women still prayerfully funding mission grants and sharing God’s love around the world.
Copyright © 2026 Lutheran Women’s Missionary League. All rights reserved.
lwml.org
We would love to hear YOUR story!
Read more HIS Story through History
Related Resources: LWML History
I Love to Tell the Story
