Don Schoeller’s friends say they think he’s a perfect King Boreas.
“He’s St. Paul through and through,” said Gary Haider, who has known Schoeller since the late 1960s. “He brings a real commitment to the history and traditions of the Winter Carnival, and he’ll project that in the community.”
Schoeller, 67, was crowned King Boreas LXXI for this year’s St. Paul Winter Carnival, which began Friday.
As tradition dictates, he will reign for nine days and on the 10th day abdicate to Vulcanus Rex and his Krewe, signifying the approaching spring.
But as Schoeller is quick to point out, there is more to the role of King Boreas than the carnival. The job lasts a year, and the robed King Boreas puts in appearances at festivals as near as the suburbs and as far away as Canada, Florida and Texas.
“If there’s a parade, we’re there. We’re there selling the city of St. Paul,” he said.
The coronation is the zenith of Schoeller’s involvement with the Winter Carnival, which spans nearly four decades. He has served in a variety of capacities, and his friends say he’ll do well as the 71st King Boreas.
“I kind of view Don as sort of one of the traditional old-school St. Paul people,” said Jim Quandt, a Shorewood financial planner who has known Schoeller 18 years. “His roots are really embedded in the business community, but also the community at large.”
Schoeller manages the St. Paul office of North Star Resource Group, a financial planning firm. Except for a couple of years in the Army, he has spent his life in the Twin Cities. He now lives on Bald Eagle Lake in Hugo.
He grew up in the city’s Midway neighborhood and attended Cretin (now Cretin-Derham Hall) High School. He went on to the University of St. Thomas, where he majored in accounting.
After his stint in the Army, he returned to St. Paul and met a friend who was starting a financial planning firm. Today, the firm does business in 11 states. Schoeller has cut back his work schedule but said he enjoys the work too much to retire.
“I just like to help people improve their situation,” he said.
He is a nationally known speaker in the financial-planning realm and is the immediate past president of the St. Paul chapter of the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors.
He and his wife, Sheri, have six children (three sons, three daughters) and nine grandchildren. In his free time, he gardens, grows roses and enjoys sports, although he is quick to point out he is one of those rare business executives who don’t golf.
Each King Boreas names a theme for his reign, and Schoeller said he wants to call his “A Family Affair.”
“I want to get more families involved,” he said of the Winter Carnival. “We’re doing a lot of things at Harriet Island this year. We want to get the kids, and we’re trying to get old people, too.”
David Hanners can be reached at dhanners@pioneerpress.com or 651-228-5551.
Copyright 2007 Pioneer Press.
