Obituary of Neil Arthur Gaarder

Neil Arthur Gaarder 8/30/1930 – 8/22/2024

Neil Arthur Gaarder, retired Minneapolis firefighter, passed away on 8/22/2024 at the age of 93, after a brief illness. He was treasured by family and friends.

Neil was preceded in death by his parents, Martin and Grace (Redmon) Gaarder, sister Mary Jane (Gaarder) Drinkwine, and brother Kenneth Ray Gaarder, MD. Neil was also preceded by close cousin Frances (Gaarder) and her husband Carroll Welte, and other family & friends.

He is survived by nieces & nephews, Jason, Galen, Darleen, Carol, Dannie, Barbara and Sandra, as well as cousins and their extended families. Neil is also survived by valued friends from many parts of his long and interesting life.

Neil grew up in south Minneapolis and began working on cars while still in school. He served in the Korean War, where he was injured. While in the Army he learned to rebuild generators and later taught the class. He had varied jobs after returning home including delivering flowers, having a trucking business, working in the machine shop at Grossman Chevrolet, and rebuilding transmissions for Kennedy Transmission.

After a short stint as a policeman, Neil became a firefighter for the Minneapolis Fire Department, Local 82 of the International Association of Firefighters, where he served for nearly 30 years, mostly working from Station 1 and retiring in 1991. According to friends, this was his favorite job. While a firefighter, he also sold Sun engine analyzer equipment.

During this time, he moved from Minneapolis to his house on the Mississippi in Elk River. An avid outdoorsman, Neil loved going to his cabin in Canada to fish. He owned and flew an airplane and owned one of the earliest snowmobiles. He set up an outdoor camera to capture wildlife activity on the river.

In Neil’s long and active retirement, he spent time with cousins & friends at Instantop in Ramsey, owned by the Weltes. He adopted a stray cat which he named Dusty, who he cared for and fed. He ran a business, Elk River Auto Electric, repairing generators, alternators and starters and also repaired radios for fire trucks.

He restored his 1939 Allis Chalmers tractor and road grader, which he took to shows across the country. He and his grader were especially loved by friends at the threshing show in Nowthen MN. As a youthful guy of 93, Neil hauled his A-C to four shows this summer, finishing up at Nowthen in mid-August.

Neil was active in the Minneapolis Fire Department Retirees Association and was a longtime supporter of the Minnesota Firefighters Museum.

A celebration of Neil’s life will be held at the Minnesota Firefighters Museum, 664 22nd Ave NE Minneapolis on Saturday, October 5 from 1-4 p.m. Coffee and cookies will be available. There will be a short program at 1:15, followed by any thoughts and memories that friends and family would like to share. No flowers please. Donations may be made in Neil’s memory to: MN Firefighters Museum or Upper Midwest A-C (Allis Chalmers) Club.