Ray Schmidt was born the eldest son of German-speaking farmers in 1922 in western North Dakota. While growing up, he and his family experienced the hardships of the Great Depression firsthand. Like most young people, Ray embarked on various professions initially, including the music business. An accomplished self-taught accordionist who plays by ear, he and one of his bands, the Blue Flames, cut a polka record in the early 1940s. Eventually Ray got into the farming business himself in North Dakota. Then, in 1964, he and his wife, Marie, decided to take a chance on the next big thing: fast food. Their venture led them to Miles City, Montana, a dusty cattle town, where they purchased a small Dairy Queen. With the help of Marie and their eight children, the Schmidts were able to make the business a huge success. It became one of the largest and top-performing Dairy Queens in Montana. He and his son, Ray Schmidt, Jr., later went on to launch and operate a number of restaurants in Montana and Utah. Today, Ray and Marie live in Richland, Washington, near three of their daughters whom Ray regales with funny stories and harasses endlessly with political debates.