Oldest Fridge

Mary Schmidt says goodbye to her prize-winning 1930 GE fridge

MIDDLEBURG HEIGHTS, Ohio -- Mary Schmidt kept telling family and friends that her 1930 General Electric refrigerator worked just fine, thank you. But they finally shamed her this July into recycling it.

Schmidt earned not just the usual $50 recycling reward from the Illuminating Co. but a $1,250 prize as one of two winners of Ohio's Oldest Fridge Contest.

The 80-year-old still misses her nearly lifelong fridge, which her parents bought new when she was a year old. But she admitted, "It worked out for me."

Schmidt tied with a Columbus customer in the contest, sponsored by Ohio utilities to promote their recycling programs for working refrigerators and freezers. Workers returned Schmidt's fridge to her home today for a ceremonial pickup and gave her an oversized ceremonial check. They promise that a negotiable check will soon be in the mail.

Schmidt's fridge is a steel, claw-footed vault with 7.2 cubic feet of space. The movers guessed it weighs 450 pounds. There's some rust outside, but not inside. It followed her and her family from Cleveland to Parma Heights to Middleburg, where she moved 56 years ago. She said it worked perfectly all these years.

"It wasn't very loud. It's more a little buzz," she said, slipping from the past tense to the present, as the bereaved often do for the dear departed.

The single woman cooked and baked a lot and hosted many parties, so the fridge grew crowded. She eventually bought a second GE unit, but kept the first one in her walk-out basement.

A while back, she wanted a new gasket and couldn't find one. So she made one, cutting material to fit. The machine kept humming along.

She said she hasn't noticed much of a drop in her electric bill. But Illuminating Co. spokesman Chris Eck said replacing an old fridge saves an average customer about $150 per year. JACO Environmental reclaims about 95 percent of the materials and removes harmful ones.

Schmidt plans to spend her prize on a new freezer. Then she'll earn $50 by recycling her old one, a Sears at least 50 years old.

Ohio utilities have a range of recycling programs. For information about the Illuminating Co. program, call 1-877-545-4112 or see energysaveOhio.com.