Neal Buechler, 89, passed away on February 12, 2025. 

A funeral service will be held at 10:30 AM, Tuesday, Feb. 18, at Parkway Funeral Service, 2330 Tyler Pkwy, Bismarck. 

Burial will be held at 1:00 PM at the North Dakota Veterans Cemetery, Mandan. 

Neal was born in 1935 in Zap, ND to hard-working German immigrant parents. After five years, the family moved to Dickinson where Neal completed his sophomore year of high school. He finished his final two years of high school in Bismarck where his athleticism and leadership became evident. His skills as a point guard for his varsity high school basketball team helped the Bismarck High School Demons bring home the state championship trophy his senior year. 

After graduating from high school in 1953, as the president of his senior class, he attended Bismarck Junior College and the University of ND. In 1960, he wed Janet Marlene Manning from Hettinger, ND. Their marriage produced four children – Lisa, Linda, Brad and Burk – as Neal’s career took the family to Connecticut, Nebraska, Texas and Illinois. Widowed in 2007, Neal eventually returned to Bismarck where he spent his retirement with cherished friends and neighbors, golfing any time the weather permitted. 

Neal is survived by eight grandchildren.