In Remembrance Solemnly Gathered

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In Remembrance ...
PHOTOS: KAREN NORRIS
... Solemnly Gathered
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Montana Trooper
Hundreds Attend Trooper’s Funeral
By NICHOLAS LEDDEN
Daily Inter Lake
Reprinted with permission.
U
nder a cloud-muted sky, Montana Highway Patrol Trooper
Evan F. Schneider’s final call
was broadcast Tuesday to law enforcement radios statewide.
“All units and stations, clear the
radio for a moment of silence in honor
of our fallen friend,” crackled the disembodied voice, identifying Schneider
by his badge number.
“330, Kalispell Direct. Status check.”
There was no answer.
“330, Kalispell Direct. Status Check.”
Again, there was no answer.
“Copy 330. You’re now off shift
and en route to the place your heavenly father has prepared for you.”
Schneider, 29, was killed in an Aug.
26 crash on U.S. 2 near Bad Rock Canyon. He was in pursuit of another vehicle
when his marked patrol car collided headon with a half-ton GMC pickup truck
after it crossed into the oncoming lane.
“His final duty was to give his life
serving every person who travels Montana’s highways,” said Schneider’s
mother, Becky Sturdevant, in a prayer
ending her son’s funeral Tuesday at the
Christian Center Assembly of God
Church in Kalispell.
Hundreds of people attended the
memorial service, including law enforcement officers from around the state and
country. Sheriff’s deputies from counties
across Montana, police from cities large
and small, highway patrol troopers from
neighboring states, federal law enforcement officers, firefighters, paramedics
and 911 dispatchers were all there —
most with heads bowed.
Leather-vested members of the Patriot Guard Riders of Montana motorcyPHOTO: GARRETT CHEEN
Montana Highway Patrol Commander Col. Paul K. Grimstad presents an American flag to Evan Schneider’s widow, Carrie Schneider, during the trooper’s
memorial service at Glacier Memorial Gardens Tuesday. Evan Schneider’s brother, Jim Schneider, also an MHP Trooper, is at left, and Schneider’s father, Gordon Schneider, is at right. Garrett Cheen/Daily Inter Lake.
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cle organization lined the cemetery’s former U.S. Marine, Schneider left for
boot camp when he was just 17.
entrance, holding large American flags.
He returned to the Flathead Valley
Gov. Brian Schweitzer, Department of Transportation Director Jim after visiting ports in Hawaii, Indonesia,
Lynch and Montana Attorney General Australia, Seychelles, Bahrain and Kuwait
Mike McGrath stood next to the High- to begin work at an excavating business.
His former boss and close family
way Patrol’s commander, Col. Paul K.
friend recalled Schneider’s penchant for
Grimstad.
During the funeral, Schneider was making mischief — once accidentally
remembered for his easy smile, empa- running over a stop sign while demonthy and quickness to lend a hand. An strating to his co-workers the mechanical
avid collector of coins and Ford auto- improvements he’d made to a truck.
Schneider worried, needlessly, that
mobiles, Schneider also liked animals,
collecting pets of a variety of species the ensuing ticket might hurt his chances
of being hired by the Highway Patrol.
over his lifetime.
A family friend read a statement
Drivers didn’t like receiving tickduring the funeral written by Schneiets, but they liked Schneider.
“In his years in the patrol, he never der’s widow, Carrie.
got a citizen complaint at any PHOTOS: GARRETT CHEEN
time,” Grimstad said.
Schneider, who would
have turned 30 in early
September, joined the Highway Patrol in January 2004. A
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“Everything about [Evan] was genuine and true,” she wrote. “He could
never hesitate to offer his hand to
those closest to him or a stranger.”
Schneider’s love for his job as a
trooper helped draw his younger brother, James, into the Highway Patrol.
“Evan had a genuine faith in every
life he touched,” Carrie wrote. “He did
not think of himself as a hero, but that
is what he was.”
At the time of his death, Schneider
was pursuing training in the post-crash
collection of information from a squad
car’s video- and data-recording module
— a piece of equipment troopers likened to the black box in an airplane.
“But I heard about his curiosity in
a different way,” Grimstad said, referencing a meeting Schneider had with
prosecutors after they decided not to
press charges in connection with one
of his investigations.
Schneider returned the next day to
ask questions about what he could do
differently, more thoroughly.
“He was dedicated to making himself a better person,” Grimstad said.
Before Schneider became a trooper, he was asked in an interview why
he wanted to join the Highway Patrol.
“Evan said he wanted to work with
good people,” Grimstad said. “To this
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day, that answer makes my job worthwhile.”
After the funeral, a long procession drove north on U.S. 93 to Glacier
Memorial Gardens. The first patrol
cars, with emergency lights flashing,
reached the cemetery as the procession’s final participants left the church.
Schneider’s ashes — stored in a
simple, carved wooden urn — were
placed prominently on a cloth-draped
table. They will be scattered by his
family in an undisclosed location at a
later date.
Officers lined up in neat ranks and
saluted in one body.
A bagpipe player, positioned off to
one side, played “Amazing Grace” as
the Highway Patrol’s honor guard folded an American flag and Grimstad
handed it to Carrie Schneider. The couple had no children.
Seven patrol officers lifted their
rifles and at a barked command fired
three shots, followed by the mournful
cadence of a trumpet playing “Taps.”
The ceremonial last call burst from
a set of out-of-the-way speakers and
from the radios of several patrol cars.
Then there was silence.
Schneider’s death marks the second time in less than a year that a
Highway Patrol trooper has been killed
in the line of duty in Flathead County.
David Graham, 36, died Oct. 9,
2007, after his squad car was struck
head-on by a distracted driver in a pickup truck that crossed the center turn
lane on U.S. 2 north of Kalispell.
Schneider is sixth trooper to lose his
life in the line of duty since the Highway
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Patrol was created in 1935.
Reporter Nicholas Ledden can be reached at 7584441 or by e-mail at nledden@dailyinterlake.com
Evan Schneider Memorial Fund
Evan Schneider’s family has set up a Memorial Fund at Glacier Bank in Kalispell.
They have asked that anyone who would like to send a donation
to send it to the MHP office as opposed to their home address.
The bank information is:
Glacier Bank, 16 2nd St. West, Kalispell, MT 59901, Account # 010288034
All checks should be made payable to: Evan Schneider Memorial Fund
Please mail checks to:
Montana Highway Patrol, District VI, 121 Financial Drive, Suite D, Kalispell, MT 59901
Attn: Evan Schneider Memorial Fund
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