William Herman ("William" from his father, "Herman" from his paternal grandfather) "Bill" Schmagel was born December 24th, 1921 to   William Schmagel and Adah Dunham Schmagel in Shakopee, MN. He joined an older sister Marie "Toots", Schmagel Brueshoff. Bill was a good student and graduated with honors from high school in 1939. After high school, he attended business college in Minneapolis for two years and also joined the Army Signal Corps to get training in radio operating, repair, and morse code. He then served with the Air Corps as an instructor in radio and code, and later was ordered to join the O.S.S. (Office of Strategic Services) as Bill was very proficient in receiving and sending code, and received awards for his speed, especially in receiving. O.S.S. was the predecessor of the C.I.A. and their mission was to secure information from the underground, mostly from the Marquee in France. He participated in the D-Day invasion in this capacity, gathering radio info that was vital in making D-Day a success.

After Europe was secured he was assigned to the C.B.I. (China, Burma India Theater) to the area that was later to become Vietnam. In order to get there he spent 32 days on a troop ship and also flew "The Hump" to get to Burma. His mission there was the same as before, getting info from the underground agents in the C.B.I. in order to defeat Japan. The happiest day of his life was hearing that the war was over. He was honorably discharged on December 20th, 1945.

After the war he went to Washington, D.C. to work for the Census Bureau and to take night courses studying insurance. In 1947 he returned to Shakopee and worked for an insurance agency there until he joined First Bank Corp in 1948 and was sent to the First National Bank Agency in Lemmon, SD as manager of their insurance department. He was with their agency for two years and then went to the Bank of Lemmon Agency, also to manage their insurance agency. It was about this same time that he met the love of his life Arlene Davis, whom he married on April 30th, 1950. They were blessed with three children.

In 1957, he became assistant cashier at the Bank of Lemmon, serving in that capacity until he became executive vice president of Security State Bank in Wishek, ND in 1962.  While in Lemmon and Wishek, Bill was very active in the community, serving in the National Guard (achieving the rank of Chief Warrant Officer), Jaycees, American Legion and the VFW.  He was a charter member of the Lions Club in Wishek and while there, signed up over 50 new members and held all of the officer positions.  In Lemmon and Wishek he was a many time "go-getter" of the AMerican Legion, also, holding all post and county offices in both places.  He has been a lifetime blood donor, giving over 25 gallons during his lifetime.

Bill has been a Lutheran all his life as his grandparents and parents were Lutherans all their life, which was not easy in Shakopee, MN. He sang tenor in men's choruses in all of the churches he belonged to.  He was very active in the churches, serving on the council in all of them. The church in Lemmon was built with all volunteer labor and he spent many hours helping to build a very beautiful gothic style church.

In 1973 Bill and his family moved to Aberdeen where Bill became manager of the Equitable Life Agency. In 1974 they moved to Rapid City with Bill holding the same position here. In 1977 he became the general agent for Provident Life Insurance Company, now Relia Star Life. He has received many awards for his sales ability and was a member of the Million Dollar Round Table for quite a few years. He was a member of the Black Hills Life Underwriters for many years.

He has been a photographer all his life and his favorite subjects have been his wife, children, and grandchildren.

Bill loved spending time with his family and being a great helper on many projects. He was also an avid reader and enjoyed meeting his coffee buddies at McDonald's.

Bill is survived by his wife of 67 years, Arlene, three children, Karen (Lyle) Pederson, Shari (Larry) Caffee and Bill (Pam) Schmagel, all of Rapid City and seven grandchildren, Sam (Crystal) Pederson of Rapid City, Josh (Katy) Caffee of Spearfish, SD, Jon Pederson of Rapid City, Jessie (Andrew) Warren of Missoula, MT, and Daniel, Jonah, and David Schmagel of Rapid City and 3 great-grandsons, Sawyer, William and Parker.

Bill was preceded in death by his parents and sister, Marie "Toots" Breshoff.

The family would like to thank the staff of Prairie Hills, Golden Living Center for their kindness during Bill's last days.

Visitation will be Monday, Jan 1, 2018 from 5-7 pm at Osheim & Schmidt Funeral Home. Funeral services will be Tuesday, Jan 2 at 10 am at Calvary Lutheran Church with burial at Black Hills National Cemetery.

The family suggests donations to Samaritans Purse, Calvary Lutheran Church or the charity of your choice.