On Friday, December 16, 2022 the world became a little bit darker. Ronald Duane Schneider went quietly into the good night.
The local legend is you can’t kill a Schneider, they’ll die when they’re ready. Ron thoroughly tested this hypothesis. He didn’t let little things like a truck accident, a couple of car accidents, a close shave with an ultralight, a bad heart, chasing down armed criminals, bladder cancer, Covid, or leukemia get in his way. With every situation he would walk away and tell death not today. He might have been weakened; he lost his spleen in the truck accident, gained a mechanical heart, lost some hair with chemo, had trouble breathing from Covid, but he never let it get him down. His positive attitude allowed him to make the best of every new situation. Was he stuck in a hospital room bored out of his mind, or was he staying in a place where others are bored out of their minds and thus open to a stranger, complete with breezy hospital gown, come in, strike up a conversation and maybe sit down and play a game of cards? Was getting an LVAD a scary new device to be feared, or did he have cutting edge technology to show local doctors and nurses so they would be familiar with the device for future patients?
Ron was the youngest of eight children born to Henry and Amanda (Mae) Schneider born August 1, 1943. Growing up was a combination of learning what to do from his older siblings, and learning what NOT to do from his older siblings. Stories from the Schneider family farm include hard work raising cattle, poultry, crops, and a huge garden plot. Running a farm also required mechanical skills to keep equipment running, and improvising to make farm life a little easier. They would play as hard as they worked, and truly tested the limits of their guardian angels. They might not have all their toes, and they might set off metal detectors due to a B.B. or bullet lodged somewhere, and the local wildlife will never be the same, but they had fun! Amazingly, all of the brothers survived and grew up mechanically inclined with enough knowledge and imagination to keep their wives and the local fire station on their toes. His two sisters were a little more sensible and Joan, his oldest sibling, still calls Ron her baby. All of the chaos from eight children was contained due to the example and guidance provided by his father, and controlled with a firm and loving mother.
Ron’s formidable years included attending Cody High School and he graduated in 1961 with perfect attendance. When your no nonsense mother was use to herding a pack of feral children, being in school was probably the safest place. He also had to take every opportunity to see his high school sweetheart, Linda Wobig. Once Ron graduated high school he attended Chadron State College. He continued to return home on weekends to make sure Linda didn’t forget him. He and Linda were wed in 1964. Two sons were born from this union, Randy in 1964 and Richard a year later. Tragically Richard died in infancy. During this time Ron worked road construction and later took a job on a ranch south of Harrisburg. Tragedy struck again in 1966 when an automobile accident took the life of Linda. Ron returned to the comfort of his hometown where he took an emergency teaching position at Cody-Kilgore Schools. He later took a teaching position in Spalding in 1968. It was here he met his second wife, Lucille Krick. He completed his family with the addition of two more children, Chad and Paula.
In 1971 Ron moved his family back to his hometown of Cody. He took a job at Cody Oil. Later he bought the business when the owner, Clint Wobig, retired. He ran Cody Oil with the help of Lucille’s brother, Dave, and his wife Lody, for several years until he was ready to retire. After unsuccessfully trying to sell the business, he did the only logical thing and bought the gas station in the neighboring town. His oldest son, Randy, took over the operations of the new business. Later, his other son, Chad, would take over the original Cody Oil.
As Ron was born and raised in motion, retirement was not the idle, relaxed state most associate with the title. His older brother, Robert (Bob), retired a few years before Ron. Bob was also not the idling type, and soon he was down at the station helping his little brother. They quickly realized they worked well together and were involved in a multitude of projects. This was both a relief and a worry for their wives, as they were doing things that surely went against OSHA regulations. When you’ve lived your life getting things done, you learn just how far you can push the limits without causing severe bodily harm, and they thrived in this environment.
Ron is preceded in death by his parents Henry and Amanda (Mae), siblings Jerry, Robert, and Steve, brothers in law Ben Mellor and Charles Starr, sister-in-law Elizabeth Schneider, his first wife Linda, son Richard, and two hunting dogs Abilene and Wrecks. He is survived by his siblings Joan, Lloyd (Caroline), Patricia, Stanley (Rita), sisters-in-law Shirley Faubion and Marjorie Schneider, and his wife Lucille, and children Randy (Lisa), Chad (Sharee), Paula (Shane) and grandchildren; Samantha, Shannon, Henry, and Blake. He leaves behind many friends and extended family.
We will miss his wit and humor, and the twinkle in his eye when he had a good thought.. He will be remembered for the many rambunctious cribbage games down at the station. He was active in the community and organized and created a trap shooting team, complete with building a functional trap house and he took many junior and high school students to Donovan for an annual national trap shooting tournament. He was active in 4-H shooting sports and taught Hunter Safety classes. He was an avid hunter and outdoorsman. He also decided Cody needed a fireworks display and managed to convince the state he was stable and safe enough to carry a pyrotechnic license so he could buy and set off commercial fireworks, a tradition his sons continue today.
We will have a celebration of life ceremony on July 1, 2023, complete with an obscene amount of fireworks.
Mass of Christian Burial for Ron Schneider was held on Friday, December 23, 2022 at 10:30 a.m. MT at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Nenzel. Burial will be at a later date. Sandoz Chapel of the Pines in Valentine was in charge of service arrangements.
