Details

Collection Summary
Collection: FND001 - SHSND Foundation - North Dakota Heritage Family Memorial Program
Series: Tribute
Folder: DIG
Item: 270955
Title: Gordon W. Schnell
Date: 7/6/1940-2/18/2024
Inscription/Marks: 7/6/1940
Summary: Gordon W. Schnell passed away on February 18, 2024. A celebration of life service was held April 5, 2024, at Stevenson Funeral Home in Dickinson. Burial was at St. Patrick’s Cemetery, Dickinson. Gordon was born July 6, 1940, in Dickinson to Ray and Clara (Kittleson) Schnell. He was the youngest of thirteen children. Gordon graduated from Dickinson High School before attending college at St. Louis University and studying law at the University of North Dakota. It was during this time that Gordon married his high school sweetheart, Sandee Beyers. The couple was blessed with three children, Brian, Courtney and Tom. They lived in Bismarck before returning to Dickinson, where Gordon joined Mackoff Kellogg law firm, and later retired after more than 40 years of practicing law. Gordon was a loving husband and father, devoted grandfather, hard-working lawyer, and loyal friend. He cherished his family and time spent with them. He and Sandee loved attending their children’s and grandchildren’s sporting events and activities and taking family vacations. They also enjoyed spending time with Gordon’s extended family. A delicious dinner followed by playing games or doing puzzles was a perfect evening for Gordon. He also loved to entertain. He was a wonderful host, and often helped serve dinner or make pancake breakfasts for family and friends. Those closest to Gordon knew him to be a kind, thoughtful and positive person. His favorite word was “terrific.” He had a great sense of humor and dry wit that his family often referred to as “Gordon humor.” Gordon was passionate about people and favorite hobbies. He enjoyed life and he and Sandee lived it to the fullest. Sporting events, theater and concerts were favorite activities, especially when shared with children and grandchildren. Gordon and Sandee also enjoyed good food and wine, and loved to celebrate with family and friends. One of Gordon’s gifts was the ability to craft witty toasts to honor family and friends on special occasions. Gordon was a proud member of the community and served as president of the Chamber of Commerce, an Elks trustee, Blue Hawk booster, and president of the North Dakota State Bar. He is survived by his wife, Sandee; children, Brian (Julie) Schnell, Courtney (John) Moody, Tom Schnell; grandchildren, Hayley (Tyler) Erstad, Jordan (Alex) Tangen, Jaime Schnell, Allison (Edmond Younes) Moody, Cameron Moody; great-grandson, Jacob Erstad; sister, Shirlene Winn; sisters-in-law, Linda Schnell, Carla Schnell, Maureen Schnell. He was preceded in death by his parents, Ray and Clara Schnell; sisters, Lucille (Dick) Law, Viola (Mike) Boehm, Oral (Walt) Shjeflo, Luella and Laverne Schnell; and brothers, Raymond (Geneva) Schnell, Willard Schnell, Howard (Joyce) Schnell, Robert Schnell, Wayne Schnell, Jerry Schnell.
Red ID: FND_I_78447 Image ID: 599635 Image Notes: FND001 270955

Collection: FND001 Digitized Images from Collection
Title: SHSND Foundation - North Dakota Heritage Family Memorial Program
Date: -

Summary: The North Dakota Heritage Family Memorial Program is sponsored by the North Dakota Funeral Directors Association. The life stories of deceased North Dakotans are featured in an archvied collection. Current partners in the project are Eastgate Funeral & Cremation Services, Bismarck Evans Funeral Homes, Carrington and New Rockford Everson-Coughlin Funeral Home, Williston Fulkerson Funeral Home, Tioga Fulkerson Funeral Home, Watford City Fulkerson Stevenson Funeral Home, Williston Nero Funeral Home, Bottineau Parkway Funeral Service, Bismarck Springan Stevenson Funeral Home, Stanley Stevenson Funeral Home, Dickinson These funeral homes provide recent obituaries to the Foundation, where staff and volunteers format, edit and archive each memorial. The memorials are posted, and copies are sent to the family for their input and approval. The listing currently features more than 13,000 memorials, and is constantly updated as new memorials and histories are received.

Enter a subject or term in one or both of the “Search” boxes.

  • “Item Detail” searches the Title, Creator and Summary fields of all item-level records.
  • “Collection Number” searches the Collection Number field only and requires an exact match.

The “DETAILS” button provides additional information about an item, as well as the following options:

  • “Collection Summary” details the contents of the entire collection in which the selected item is located.
  • You can print the image and its corresponding details by selecting “Print".
  • “Digitized Images from the Collection” returns a list of all digitized items within that collection (available from the “Collection Summary” screen).

Click on image to expand/zoom the image view.

“Photobook home” takes you back to the main Photobook page where you can start a new search.

“Featured Collections” showcases new and/or popular collections and the digitized images within those collections.

Information on how to order copies is located here.

The collections preserved in the North Dakota State Archives include over a million images. Only a small percentage of these images have been digitized. This photo gallery provides a preview of the images that have been digitized.

For more information on the non-digitized images, please refer to the finding aids found on our website at history.nd.gov, or ask a member of our reference staff for assistance.