By RYAN CHRISTNER

rchristner@dailynews.net

Sometimes, Don Waldschmidt gets so caught up in his work that it takes him a while to notice the phone or door bell ringing.

When you love something enough and have been doing it for more than 50 years, it's understandable how one might learn to tune other things out.

Now that he's retired, Waldschmidt can devote most of his free time to his passion: genealogy.

"I get so engrossed," he said. "I hear nothing."

Since 1958, when he was a sophomore in high school, Waldschmidt has been collecting all the information he can on western Kansas families and their Volga German roots.

His interest stems from his own European heritage. He was born in Ellis and grew up speaking only German, although he was taught English in school and Latin in his Catholic church.

He said he was heavily encouraged by now-deceased area historian Lawrence Weigel to study and preserve history.

He listened to Weigel, and Waldschmidt now maintains a database of approximately 1,000 families. "There's probably half a million names in there," he said of his collection. "You'd have to have a warehouse. There's just a lot of information."

Waldschmidt has used his vast resources to help other curious residents.

He has researched and put together genealogy books on over 150 families, sending some as far away as Hawaii, Canada, Argentina, Brazil and, of course, Germany.

He has also been able to uncover information on the life of his grandmother before she met his grandfather, and even identified the birth parents of two adopted friends of his wife, Diane.

Waldschmidt also keeps photographic records of cemeteries within 160 miles of Hays and has an extensive collection of German music.

"Maybe I have overkill," he said.

While genealogy may occupy a lot of his time -- he said he spends about five hours a day in his museum of a basement -- Waldschmidt enjoys spending time with his other love, his wife.

Diane is the manager of the Wyndam Place senior residence, and Don does odd maintenance jobs for her there while picking the minds of apartment residents.

"I enjoy the old-timers because now I can ask them questions about ... genealogy," Waldschmidt said.

The couple also takes frequent in-state and out-of-state vacations.

"If the weather's pretty nice," Waldschmidt said, "her and I will leave on weekends and we'll go to different towns, someplace we haven't been, and just check out the history of it."

On those trips, Waldschmidt said his wife will help him catalogue gravestones at the different cemeteries, but otherwise likes to minimize her involvement in his hobby.

Which begs the question: What will happen with his materials once he is no longer to keep up with genealogy?

"I don't know what Diane will do with it," he said. "I don't know where it's going to go. Somebody might throw it in the dumpster, who knows."

Because his three children have never shown much interest either, Waldschmidt said he figures the Ellis County Historical Society or some other entity might one day take it all into its collection.

For now, one thing is certain.

"I'm gonna do this 'til I die," Waldschmidt said.