Winter Event to honor Phil Schneider
The Sandy Historical Society was delighted when 47-year fire service veteran and nine-year chief of the Sandy Fire Department Phil Schneider agreed to give a presentation and be honored at the winter event 1 p.m., Sunday, January 28 at the museum. Phil also seemed delighted at the invitation and excited about the celebrations.
On Monday, January 29 there also will be a separate retirement party in his honor at the Sandy Fire Station from 4 to 6 p.m. with a presentation at 5:15 p.m. Both events are open to the public.
Phil Schneider started volunteering at age 16. His family has a long generational history of community service. He is related to a number of prominent names, such as Casper Junker and Kate Schmitz. Five generations ago his great-great grandfather, Thomas Porterfield Jack, arrived by wagon in 1847, and his great-great grandmother, Sarah Johnson, arrived by another wagon train in 1852. They were soon married. Through the years they had eight children.
One of their sons, Gilbert, grew up to partner in a blacksmith shop business with a man named Albert Schneider. Albert married Gilbert’s sister Ella Jack, and they had five children. When their son Harvey was only two years old, Albert was killed in a farm accident, so the young family moved to the Pleasant Home area near Ella’s parents.
Harvey graduated from Lusted Grade School in 1909 and went to work at various jobs before deciding to go to dental school. When he finished school he set up practice mostly in Pendleton, but two days a week in Pilot Rock, where he met Verona Fullenwider, who worked in a bank. They were married in Michigan by her father, a Presbyterian minister.
They lived and worked in Brookings until the economy tanked there and the sawmill closed. It was Sandy’s good fortune when they chose to move here. Dr. Harvey gave 40 years of service and was active in city government service, being a city recorder from 1931 to 1938. He and Verona raised three children: Keith, Dean, and Janice (Strom).
Dean and his wife “Toots” Schneider lived in the historic Barendrick house in Sandy. They had four children, of whom Phil was the youngest. At the time Phil Jonsrud recorded the information in 1996, Phil Schneider was deputy fire chief of the Sandy Fire Department.
There are many great stories in the museum files and more to be shared at the winter event at the museum January 28 when Phil Schneider picks up the narrative with his own words. Light refreshments will be served.
