Jack Schneider

Jon "Jack" Schneider was born on August 28, 1997, in Little Rock, Arkansas the son of Jon & Heather (Lyon) Schneider. He was baptized at the First United Methodist Church in Stuttgart, Arkansas. When Jack was two, his family moved to Alexandria, Minnesota where he excelled in school and athletics. Jack was a true student leader at Alexandria Area High School, where he loved to learn, served on the Student Council and as a school Ambassador, and played on the Varsity Soccer Team for four years. In addition to "The Beautiful Game" of soccer, which he loved to watch and play so passionately, Jack's other athletic pursuit was alpine skiing and ski racing. In his first winter in Alexandria, Jack learned to ski at age two at Andes Tower Hills, and quickly excelled in the sport. After winning local fun races at Andes and taking family ski trips to Montana, Jack began competing in U.S. Ski Association (USSA) alpine competitions around the state and region, winning several races and competing in USSA Junior Olympic events in Colorado multiple years. Jack also competed in the Minnesota High School League's State Alpine ski race at Giants Ridge in 2012, finishing 18th as a freshman. Jack went onto compete in International Ski Federation (FIS) alpine ski races in the Midwest and Colorado, eventually winning a FIS slalom event in Michigan in December 2014, the first person to do so from Alexandria and one of only a few FIS alpine ski race winners from Minnesota. He retired from sports competition in 2015 to focus on school and prepare for college, but remained committed to improving his physical fitness and health. Jack also greatly enjoyed spending time outdoors fishing, bird hunting, and training his family's black Labrador retrievers. Beginning at age eight, Jack took annual weeklong trips each fall with his father, uncle, and dogs to hunt waterfowl in prairie Saskatchewan. Jack also cherished hunting opportunities to chase pheasants in Minnesota and South Dakota, and pass-shoot ducks at The Old Guide's pass on Lake Christina. From these and other experiences, Jack gained a first-hand appreciation for the natural world and an understanding how it works, which helped develop his concern for conservation of our water, wetland, prairie, and wildlife resources, and climate change. These experiences and his strong desire to succeed drove his hard work in high school to learn and graduate near the top of his class with high marks and test scores, and attend a top college. He planned to pursue a degree in environmental engineering at the University of Wisconsin, where he had been accepted into the Department of Engineering, with a goal of designing solutions to solve environment problems and help people. Jack is remembered as a very respectful, hardworking, humble, sensitive, thoughtful person who was quick to help and always put others first, and rarely had a negative thing to say. Jack appreciated his mother's good sense of humor, enjoyed lovingly teasing his sister Megan, and outdoor adventures with his father. He greatly enjoyed spending time with family, friends, and his dogs. Jack died on Monday, January 9, 2017. He is survived by his parents: Jon & Heather Schneider; sister, Megan; grandmothers: Alice Lyon & Martha Lyon; uncles: Robert (Melissa) Schneider, Scott Schneider, Sean Lyon, and Robert (Colleen) Smith; aunt, Jennifer (Mark) Dzimian; cousins, many friends, and dog Win. He was preceded in death by his grandfather, Jon Lyon; and grandparents: Richard & JoAnn Schneider. Prayer Service will be held on Saturday, January 21, 2017, 11:00 a.m. at St. Mary's Catholic Church. Burial at St. Mary's Cemetery. Arrangements are with the Anderson Funeral Home. www.andersonfuneral.net