Brown City — Fr. Richard Schmidberger got straight to the point.

That’s what people liked about him.

The down-to-earth, somewhat gruff priest made a habit of being easy to talk to, wearing his love for the community around him on his sleeve. Fr. Schmidberger died April 17. He was 87.

“He didn’t mince words,” said Mike Juip, a parishioner at Sacred Heart Mission in Brown City, where Fr. Schmidberger served as a pastor and a senior priest. “When he said something, he got to the point and it got done.”

Richard Schmidberger was born in Detroit on June 1, 1930, to Paul and Helen Schmidberger. He was ordained a priest in Maryknoll, N.Y., on June 8, 1957, and served as a Maryknoll priest in Bolivia. Fr. Schmidberger later served as an associate pastor in the Archdiocese of Detroit at various parishes before being incardinated into the archdiocese on July 8, 1977.

As a priest in the archdiocese, Fr. Schmidberger served as pastor of St. Anthony in Temperance (1981-86), St. Nicholas in Capac (1986-87), Immaculate Conception in Lapeer (1987-90), St. Henry in Lincoln Park (1990-96), St. Mary Burnside in Burnside Township and Sacred Heart Mission in Brown City (1996-2000).

After being granted senior status in 2000, Fr. Schmidberger returned to Sacred Heart Mission in 2004 and served three years as a senior priest.

“He was probably the most important thing for the Catholic community in Brown City,” Juip said. “When we were getting ready to build the new church, the archdiocese was a little worried about a small town building a new church. Fr. Rich came out of retirement and really convinced to archdiocese to build the church. He came in, said it would happen, and it happened.”

Fr. Schmidberger was much respected in the rural community, attracting parishioners and non-parishioners alike to give to fundraisers.

“I believe we would not have a Catholic church in Brown City if it wasn’t for Fr. Richard,” Juip said. “The point of every one of his homilies was to ‘be holy.’ Everything starts with those two words, and I’ll never forget it.”

While many saw Fr. Schmidberger as a gruff, no-nonsense priest, Fr. John Ortman, associate pastor of St. Cornelius in Dryden, St. John the Evangelist in Allenton and St. Nicholas in Capac, got to see a different side during his time as an associate pastor at Immaculate Conception.

“A lot of people didn’t see the Fr. Richard I knew,” Fr. Ortman said. “They saw a gruff man, but he was an extremely sensitive man. He’d been in Bolivia with Maryknoll for years and brought years of experience of being a shepherd with him to Michigan. I think sharing life with the people of Bolivia invited him perhaps to challenge some to share a little more back in the first world.

“He appeared to be gruff, but anyone who saw him in the rectory or the library across the street saw a man who was rather humorous and enjoyed life,” Fr. Ortman said.

Still learning the ropes of the priesthood, Fr. Ortman said Fr. Schmidberger advised him to never think he was above his parishioners.

“One of the first things he said to me was he asked what we needed around here,” Fr. Ortman said. “I said I wanted a cat, and he just replied, ‘Well, get a cat.’ So we got this 8-week-old kitten and I remember late at night he was sleeping on his recliner, and the cat was just snuggled and sleeping on his stomach. I took a picture, and then I just heard him say, ‘Don’t show that picture to anyone, I have a façade to keep up.’”

Fr. Schmidberger served as associate pastor at St. Genevieve in Livonia (1969-72, 1973-77), St. Mark in Warren (1972-73), St. Gabriel in Detroit (1977-80), and St. John the Baptist in Monroe (1980-81).

Fr. Schmidberger was predeceased by his parents, Paul and Helen Schmidberger, and a cousin, Jacqueline Murphy.

His funeral was April 21 at Sacred Heart Mission Parish in Brown City and he was buried at Sacred Heart Cemetery, Brown City.