BOMBER MEMORIAL

ROBERT GORDON "BOB" SCHNELLER ~ Class of 1965
March 11, 1947 - September 15, 1967



Published on page one of the September 17, 1967, Tri-City Herald.

~~Richland Man Plunges to His Death on Glacier~~

Twenty-year old Robert Gordon Schneller, Richland, fell to his death Friday on a remote glacier on rugged Boston Mountain in Eastern Skagit County.

Schneller, son of Mr. and Mrs. Marvin R. Schneller, 2101 Harris Avenue, was within 20 feet of the 8,850 foot summit of the north Cascade mountain when he fell 300-500-feet.

His climbing companions, John Roper, 23, and Christine Marshall, 20, both classmates of Schneller's at the University of Washington, climbed down to Schneller's body, found he was dead, then hiked out the little mountain community of Marblemount, headquarters of the Skagit District of the Mount Baker National Forest.

Boston Peak is located about 15 miles south of Seattle City Light's Ross Dam.

Schneller fell about noon, and the two made it out to Marblemount at about 7:30 pm to report the accident.

Roper, of Newhalem, near Marblemount, went back into the rugged country early Saturday with about 15 members of the Skagit and Whatcom Counties' mountain rescue units to help recover the body.

It quite probably will be today before the body can be brought out.

A sheriff's deputy said it would take "quite a bit of time," to recover the body from the area which lies on the border of Chelan County.

"It is at least six hours in from the end of the road," the deputy said. "The ice is in bad condition and there are numerous crevasses."

"The mountain is too high to use a helicopter," he said.

Published on page 20 of the September 17, 1967, Tri-City Herald.

Robert Gordon Schneller, 20, was killed when he fell while climbing a mountain in Eastern Skagit County Friday, was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Marvin R. Schneller of 2101 Harris Avenue in Richland.

A junior at the University of Washington, Mr. Schneller was a member of the University Swimming Club, the Intermountain Alpine Club for three years, of the Wilbur Climbing and Skiing Club, was a Life Scout and a graduate of Richland's Columbia High School in 1965.

He leaves his parents; a sister, Judith ('62), graduate student at the University of Washington; and a brother, David, 14.

The family prefers that in lieu of flowers, contributions be sent for a memorial for the benefit of retarded children in care of the Central United Protestant Church in Richland.

Time for a memorial service will be announced later.

Bomber Memorial put together by Shirley COLLINGS Haskins ('66).