The large family needed more than food, of course, for general health and maintenance.  For one thing, they needed a dentist.  Ray would get all dentist appointments out of the way in one fell swoop. 
"I took them out of school to do it, two at a time," he said.  "I took two at 8 o'clock, brought them back and took two at 10 o'clock, and down the line and back and forth until they were all done by 4:30 that afternoon.  I took 'em to Dr. Ziegler in Chaska."
The family also needed at least 13 pairs of shoes, pants, shirts, dresses, coats, boots, socks ... yet Frannie seldom left her home in the Hollow of Victoria Circle to go shopping for any of the items.
"I had the Sears and Montgomery Ward catalogs," she stated.  "I ordered everything for the kids.  For a long time I called Marvin and Mary Gregory at the Sears Catalog Store in Waconia, and they ordered it for us, and then a couple days later Ray would go pick it up.  It was real convenient.  Also, there were always many order blanks in the catalogs when we ordered things by mail."  It might be mentioned that Frannie didn't drive in the old days, and she doesn't drive today.  The young lady never got a driver's license.
At Christmas time, Ray and Frannie ordered Lincoln Logs, Erector Sets, and Farm Sets for their boys, from the Wish Books, and the girls always had a doll.  The Christmas scene was complete when "Ray made dolly beds and I made dolly blankets," said Frannie.
"One time we forgot a kid," laughed Ray.  "So I called Santa Claus and he opened his hardware store for us.  It was Christmas Eve, and I went down and bought a farm set.  Santa Claus was Whitey Wellens that night."  The Wellens Hardware Store was located on Main Street Victoria, next to Notermann's Grocery Store.
Even to this day, the non-shopper Schmiegs have not stepped foot in The Mall of America, which is located only 40 minutes from their front door, and very seldom has Frannie been to the popular Southdale Mall.  "I don't go shopping at all," she said.  "The girls give me all my clothes.  But I have gone to Southdale to shop for a dress for a wedding."

There have been many weddings and wedding dresses in the family ...
#1) Linda married Dick Drackley, lives in Decorah, Iowa, and has two children, one married. 
#2) Steve married Nancy, lives in Victoria, and has three children.
#3) Bob married Doris, lives in Chaska, and has four children, two married.
#4) Wayne married Anne, lives in Bloomington, and has four children.
#5) Mary married Jeff Meuleners, lives in Montrose, has two children, both of them married, and is expecting a third grandchild.
#6) JoJo lives in Chanhassen and has been a big part of the success of The Victoria House.
#7) Barb married Paul Radde, lives in Waconia, and has one child, married.
#8) Rita married Nick Lehman, lives in Maple Grove, and has three children.
#9) Tom married Mary, lives in Victoria, and has two children.
#10) Greg married Jennifer, lives in Waconia, and has three children.
#11) Connie married Ron Jeurissen, lives in Chaska, and has two children.
#12) Cindy married Leon Worm this past summer and lives in Victoria.
#13) Tracy married Steve Edsill, lives in Waconia, and has two children.

The generations are still growing.  Ray and Frannie have a long list of wedding anniversary dates and birthdays and addresses next to the kitchen calendar in order to keep up with the growing times.  And upstairs in their home in the Hollow, on the second of two floors that were added after some years of basement living, are two bedrooms with shelves and stacks of homemade gifts for birthdays and Christmas and other good things.
In fact, the treasure trove on that uppermost level brings the life of Ray and Frannie Schmieg full circle.  It complements and completes their story. This writer happened upon it by accident, and certainly not at the prodding of this tiny, hand-holding, church-going, hardworking couple.
"Would you like one of our rugs?" asks Ray, who gets up from the kitchen table where we're seated, turns the corner, and quietly climbs the full set of stairs to the bedrooms.  He soon returns with a heavy armload of braided rugs.  Together he and his mate unfold and display each of the rugs, that I might pick just the color I want.
"There are more upstairs," he says.  "There are 33 altogether."
The rugs are beautiful, in all hues of the rainbow, and I'm reminded of Joseph and his coat of many colors.  Says Frannie, "I sew all the rags and pieces of material together, and Ray winds it all into big balls.  Then we take them to a lady who turns them into rugs for us.  We will give them to our children.  Last year we did denim rugs and the kids loved them.  But when you wash it, you mustn't put it in the drier or it will shrink."
Then Ray picks up the heavy load of rugs to do the stairs again. 
"May I carry the rest of that pile for you?" I ask. 
"Come on up," he says.  Frannie also follows.  Next to the high stack of braided rugs in the first bedroom is an even higher stack of homemade quilts.  Frannie explains that Ray cuts the squares and she sews them together, does the backing and filling stuff, and Ray does all the knotting, by hand.  They give the quilts to Caring and Sharing Hands, Mary Jo Copeland's place in Minneapolis, and also to a soup kitchen in Chicago.  In addition to the brand new quilts, there are colorful afghans and pillows.  Ray and Frannie make them each year, to give away.
In another corner of that room are shelves lined with wooden toys waiting for more grandchildren and great grandchildren, and any others who happen along.  Ray made them all, to give away.
Across the hall, in the second bedroom, are wooden plant stands and decorative wooden chains and quilt racks waiting for more grandchildren and great grandchildren, and others who happen along.  Ray made them all, to give away.
To think that Ray and Frannie not only provided for the rearing of 13 children ... and that they find the means to continue giving to them and their spouses and grandchildren and great grandchildren ... and still have so much left over for others ... reveals the truth of things.  The more they give, the more they have to give.
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