George "Hoppy" Vogel, 85, of Bowman, ND, passed away on January 10, 2023 at his home in Bowman.

Memorial Service for Hoppy will be on Friday, January 20, 2023 at 11:00 a.m. at the St. Charles Catholic Church in Bowman.  Deacon Lenny Fischer will officiate with burial to be held at a later date in Napoleon, ND.

George Rudolph Vogel, better known as "Hoppy", died peacefully at his home on January 10, 2023 due to failing health.  Hoppy was born to Rudolph and Kate (Bitz) Vogel in Mandan, ND on April 25, 1937 and he was baptized at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Mandan.  He lived in his family home until the age of 5 when he moved to Grafton Transitional Living Center on February 7, 1942.  In fact, his brother Paul also lived there.  Hoppy spent many years there and named himself after the western star "Hop Along Cassidy", an identity that surely helped him survive institutional life.  He was the second oldest in his family with two brothers and six sisters.  Family was always important, and Hoppy kept in close contact with his sisters.  He was able to journey to Colorado, Idaho, South Dakota, Montana and Arizona to be with his family as well as the many trips with his ABLE family to Deadwood, Medora, Bismarck and more.  On December 16, 1985, Hoppy moved to the Little Missouri Group Home in Bowman, ND.  To say he brought color to the community speaks volumes.  Hoppy introduced himself as Sheriff and considered Rory Teigen his boss.  In fact, Rory had a bowl in his office for Hoppy to drop off tickets he had written on people.  When Rory moved to Amidon to continue his Sheriff duties there, Hoppy made many visits to see his friend and enjoyed the picture of he two of them on Rory's office wall.  Hoppy was well known in the community and had many treasured friendships with Art Johnson, Brian Fisher, Greg Wolf, Jim Lutz, Gene Nordberg, Steve Pfau and Gordon Bertsch to name just a few.  He enjoyed daily coffee with the downtown merchants at Lasting Visions as well as lunch at the Silver Dollar.  Hoppy moved to the Bowman Landing on July 1, 2014 and loved having his own apartment where he could keep his Christmas Decorations up year round, display all of his Sheriff badges and plenty of room for all his pictures and life sized cardboard cut-out of his favorite television show character the Lone Ranger given to him by Gene Nordberg.  Hoppy taught us there are no age limitations on what we love….thanks, Hop.

Hoppy is survived by his sisters Rose Hoefs of Fargo, ND, Elizabeth Leach of Mesa, AZ, Barbara Pagel of Fargo, ND and Caroline Smith of Coeur d'Alene, ID, brother-in-law, Jerry Thomas of Littleton, CO and all of his ABLE family.  He was preceded in death by his parents, Rudolph and Kate Vogel, brothers, Paul and John Leo Vogel, sisters, Helen Thomas and Katherine Vogel, brothers-in-law, Jim Leach and Stanley "Bud" Smith.

Hoppy will be buried at a later date in the St. Phillips Neri Cemetery in Napoleon, ND.