Sycamore married couple Gary A. Schmidt and Holly S. Schmidt are being remembered for their love of animals, enduring community spirit and how they “gave so openly” to those around them.

Hundreds have donated to a public GoFundMe campaign created this week to support family members grieving the loss of Gary, 60, and Holly, 59, who lived on Oakland Drive in unincorporated Sycamore.

Neighbors and those who knew the Schmidts said in interviews this week that they’ll miss the kind-hearted couple who always seemed willing to lend a helping hand.

“They deserve to be remembered for the love and kindness they gave so openly,” said DeKalb resident Sara Dwyer, who met the Schmidts after she adopted a dog, Roxie, that they fostered.

Holly was especially known through her work as a 20-year paraprofessional in Sycamore School District 427, most recently at North Grove Elementary School. Gary worked in construction, a neighbor told reporters, and, like Holly, was devoted to family.

In a message to district families Friday, interim Superintendent Nick Reineck offered his condolences and said the “heartbreaking loss” will be felt by the greater Sycamore community “for a long time.”

The Schmidts were found dead in their home Tuesday. The man who police said is responsible, their adult son, has been charged and detained. The loss has left many in the community reeling in the days since.

Some said they want the couple to be remembered not for how they died but for the way they lived.

Organizers behind the GoFundMe said they wanted to lift up family in mourning and ease financial burdens to come.

“As they navigate this overwhelming grief and the sudden responsibilities that follow, we want to surround them with love and support,” organizers wrote.

As of press time, the fund had exceeded its initial total, garnering $66,504 from 715 donations.

Dwyer said she thinks Holly “always did the right thing” and in a short amount of time had a huge impact on her life. In 2024, Holly and Gary fostered dogs after a personal loss.

Dwyer’s family ended up adopting Roxie, one of the dogs the Schmidts rescued. Holly and Dwyer kept in touch ever since, becoming friends in the process. They’d texted just a few months back to try and find a time soon to get together.

“She would always check in on the kids and Roxie, and she just always did the right thing,” Dwyer said. “Every time Holly came by, she was a joy to be around. She was so sweet with my boys, and they loved to call her ‘Roxie’s aunt.’”

That positive spirit extended into Holly’s work life, colleagues said.

She thrived working with students, said Hutha Hicks, who met Holly 20 years ago. Hicks, a paraprofessional at West Elementary School, is president of the Sycamore Education Support Staff Association, the union where Holly served as an instrumental contract negotiator.

“She came with her utility sack containing all the sensory items her young student would need. She worked with me in the social-emotional program, and that’s where her heart was,” Hicks said. “When the program, for a few years, traveled to different schools yearly, Holly went with her kids. Holly was passionate about her students, but also about the people she worked with closely and the support staff as a whole also.”

Holly came prepared to union bargaining tables, Hicks said, “with confidence and great sincerity of heart.”

She was instrumental in multiple successful negotiations for her peers, Hicks said.

North Grove special education teacher Laura Heitzig said Holly had “an amazing laugh and a heart of pure gold,” and was “a helper in every way.” They worked together in the same classroom the past five years.

“Holly was a beautiful light in this broken world,” Heitzig said. “Every day she came to work with a smile on her face and a positive attitude to share with all of our students. She was incredibly hardworking and flexible, and the students adored her. I admired Holly’s strength and resiliency.”

North Grove colleague April Flury said Holly’s work illustrated her heart.

“She had her own unique way about her – from her walk to her gentle toughness to her passion for helping people, her ability to answer important questions, and her knack for finding humor in all of the crazy events of the day,” Flury said. “We could talk about family, dogs and riding horses, but when it came time to get things done, she did it.”

The Schmidts were known to be neighborly, multiple people told reporters this week. Holly and Gary were longtime residents on Oakland Drive.

On Friday, bouquets of purple, pink and yellow flowers lay in front of a tree outside their home. Some bore messages of love. At the makeshift memorial, a photo of the couple showed them sitting on a boat, sun shining, smiles on their faces. Gary’s arm was wrapped around Holly. He wore a Chicago Bears shirt.

In one photo posted on the public GoFundMe site, Gary and Holly wore matching yellow shirts. In another, they both posed outdoors in plaid.

Messages by mourners across the community were posted publicly on social media throughout the week.

Among those was one from Suzy Swett Lewis of Denver, Colorado, a childhood friend of Holly’s. She said they met as students at Knoll West Elementary School in West Chicago. They’d lost touch in their adult years, “as people tend to do,” Swett Lewis said.

“She was a really good artist and extremely athletic,” Swett Lewis said in recollection. “She was super fast at doing the hurdles in track, for example. She was very nice, and everybody really liked her.”

Flury said she wanted Schmidt’s family to know how admired Holly was and the legacy she left behind.

In his Friday message, Reineck shared that sentiment and some words of wisdom from Holly.

“She often said to friends and colleagues, ‘Every day is a gift,’” he said, “a perspective that now serves as an important reminder for all of us to cherish our time with one another and to care for our community with compassion and kindness.”