Shirley Snyder

1923 - 2012

Shirley Snyder

Iowa City

Shirley Ann Snyder of Iowa City passed away September 10 at Atrium Village Care Center in Hills, Iowa, following a long illness. She was 88 years of age.

Shirley was born October 2, 1923 in Creston, Iowa, to Orian P. Cheetham and Nelle Seley Cheetham. She graduated from Creston High School and attended Iowa State Teachers College in Cedar Falls and Drake University in Des Moines, where she earned a bachelor's degree in elementary education in 1945. Following graduation, she taught school in Jefferson, Iowa.

On March 23, 1946, Shirley married Louis L. Snyder, also from Creston. The couple moved to Chicago, where she taught school in Cicero, Illinois while Lou attended Northern Illinois College of Optometry.

They settled in Algona, Iowa, in 1949, where they lived for 26 years and raised a family of three boys and two girls. During this period Shirley was an active member of the Methodist Church and a frequent volunteer for church, school, and community programs.

In 1975 Shirley and Lou moved to Indianola, where she resumed her teaching career, retiring in 1982. They moved to Bella Vista, Arkansas in 1984, where they enjoyed an active retirement. In 1998 they moved to Iowa City to be closer to their children.

Shirley loved nature and camping. She was an avid birder and wild flower expert, and looked forward each spring to walks in the woods searching for the early flowers and returning birds. In retirement she took up photography and competed in local shows with her nature photos.

Shirley will be best remembered for her devotion to family and a lifetime of efforts to improve the lives of others, including working with disabled children during college summers, helping mothers of Head Start children improve their life skills, assisting those with ostomies to cope with their condition, tutoring children from low-income families in her retirement years, and other contributions too numerous to list.

Shirley is survived by her five children: John Snyder of Iowa City, Tom (Melissa) Snyder of Cazenovia, New York, Mark Snyder of Oxford, Iowa, Sara Snyder of Germantown, Maryland, and Laurie Hickok of Des Moines; eight grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband and her sister, Margaret Jo Pannell.

Private graveside services will be held at Creston. The family suggests that memorials be directed to Iowa City Hospice, 1025 Wade Street, Iowa City, Iowa 52240. Lensing Funeral Service in Iowa City is handling arrangements. www.lensingfuneral.com