...had intended to spend his 36th birthday elsewhere...
George E. Schmidt, a popular young man from Baden, Ontario (Canada), was born on July 24, 1879. He left Baden in 1902 for Chicago, where he worked as head bookkeeper at Western Electric Company. George had planned to spend his 36th birthday elsewhere, but he had been appointed to one of the managing committees conducting the Western Electric employee picnic. Instead of celebrating his birthday, he became a victim of the Eastland Disaster. George's body was taken from the water only ten minutes after the Disaster occurred.
In a letter to his father he wrote that he expected to spend his vacation with his parents in Baden in August. George's remains were forwarded to his parents' home in Baden, Ontario, and he was buried on Wednesday afternoon.