Arthur Gappert

Arthur Gappert

Arthur R. Gappert, 81, Bismarck, and formerly of the New Salem area, died Dec. 28, 2008, at Prairie View Nursing Home. Underwood. Services will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 3, 2008, at Peace Church, New Salem, with the Rev. Joshua Eddy officiating. Burial will be in Peace Cemetery in the spring.

Visitation will be held from 2 to 8 p.m. Friday at Buehler-Larson Funeral Home, Mandan, where a Masonic Service will begin at 7 p.m. Visitation will continue one hour prior to the service at the church on Saturday.

Arthur Robert was born Feb. 23, 1927, near Bluegrass, the son of Henry and Lydia (Swovoda) Gappert. Raised and educated in the area, he attended Northwest Bible College in Minot prior to his service in the U.S. Army with the 72nd Tank Battalion, Charlie Company during the Korean Conflict, from November 1950 until his discharge as a sergeant in November 1952. He married Vendora Wetzel in the Glen Ullin Assembly of God Church on June 18, 1953. They made their home in Minot where Art was a member of the Minot Police, attaining the rank of lieutenant.

In 1968, he attended the Border Patrol Academy in Brownsville, Texas. He and Vendora then moved to Chula Vista, Calif., where he served with the California Border Patrol until 1971, when he joined the INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service). He retired in 1988, having held many supervisory positions, and moved back to his roots in North Dakota. In 1994, Art and Vendora built their home on the family farm where he had grown up, near Bluegrass.

Art led a very active life in retirement. He was a member of the Peace Church and served on its council, as well as on the board of directors for Elm Crest Manor. He belonged to the Teamsters Wagon Train, the Bismarck Elks, the American Legion while in California, the Amvets and the Masons and the Shrine. He also was a member of the Good Sam's Camping Club and the Peace Officers Association. Art was happiest when he could spend his time outdoors, whether on a trail ride, horseback riding, camping, participating in competitive shooting or working with the quarter horses he raised. The light of his life was found in his grandchildren. Any time Art could spend visiting them was special.

He will be deeply missed by many, including his wife, Vendora, Bismarck; his son and daughter-in-law, Jeffry and Debbie, Arnold, Md.; four grandchildren, Tim, Jennifer, Beth and Rebecca Gappert; his sisters and brothers-in-law, Evelyn and Tony Dirk, Bismarck, and Marjorie and Lloyd Stelter, Mandan.

Art was preceded in death by his parents; his son, Jerald; and his brother, Henry.