Sally Snodgrass

1936 - 2022

Sally Snodgrass
July 22, 1936 - January 30, 2022
Boise, Idaho - Sally Evans Snodgrass passed away on January 30, 2022, at her home in Boise, Idaho. She succumbed to injuries sustained in a fall at her house. She was 85 years old.
Sally was born in El Paso, Texas, on July 22, 1936. The daughter of an Army officer, Sally was raised all over the country and the world. She lived in Hawaii, where at the age of five she survived the attack on Pearl Harbor, which she initially thought was the circus come to town. She subsequently lived in Highland Falls, New York; Fort Bragg, North Carolina; Nanjing, China; Leavenworth, Kansas; and Lawrence, Kansas.
She was charismatic and outgoing. As a teenager in Leavenworth, she took lead roles in high school plays and sold advertisements for the school newspaper. In her freshman year at the University of Kansas, she met Garry Snodgrass, and they married two years later. She gave birth to their first child, Peggy, in 1957, and after Garry graduated from college, they moved to Kansas City, Missouri, where she had their second child, Penny, in 1960.
The family moved to Norfolk, Virginia, while Garry served as a medical officer in the United States Navy. After Garry completed his service, the family lived in Kansas and Missouri until moving to Boise in the summer of 1971. Sally spent the rest of her life there.
In Boise, Sally completed her college education at Boise State University and also earned a master's degree in counseling and guidance from the College of Idaho, eventually opening a private practice in family counseling that operated for five years. In 1990, she won a seat in the Idaho State Senate, part of a landmark year for women running for state legislatures around the country. She served for one term before deciding that political life was not for her.
Following her political career, Sally volunteered extensively. She worked with Family and Children Education Services, which sought to aid victims of domestic abuse. She was a member of the Greenbelt Patrol, riding along the Boise River on a bicycle and, later, at the wheel of a golf cart. She was also on the Board of Directors of the Friends of Zoo Boise, volunteering every week at the Reptile House, an assignment she specifically requested (to the mystification of her family).
She cared for her husband over the course of a long illness, and he passed away in 2014. She also cared for her younger daughter, Penny, who passed away two years later.
Sally took great pleasure in life. Aside from her family and dozens of friends, she loved playing bridge, spending time with her pets—particularly her dog Minnie—and swearing (she once said that it wasn't until high school that she discovered certain phrases favored among her father's Army friends were not considered terms of endearment by the rest of the world). She wanted to know about other people, and she wanted them to know about her.
The evening before she died, she was resting comfortably at home and said, "It's been a good life." She will be missed by everyone who knew her. She was predeceased by her husband, Dr. Garry Snodgrass, and her daughter Penny Grant. She is survived by her daughter Peggy Beck and her grandchildren, Andrew Grant, Grace Beck, Patrick Grant, Richard Beck, and Robert Beck. The world was a better place while she was in it.
Donations in Sally's memory can be made to Faces of Hope (208-577-4400) or Zoo Boise (208-608-7764). A memorial service will be held at the Cloverdale Funeral Home in Boise on Friday, February 4, at 10:00 AM. The service will also be live-streamed. Guests are requested to wear masks during the service, and out of consideration for family members with underlying medical conditions, the family would also appreciate it if guests would take a COVID test before attending.