LAWRENCE HOWARD SNYDER

SNYDER
LAWRENCE HOWARD

Age 94. Husband of Ruth "Rusty" (Bodder) Snyder, died peace-fully at his home March 24, 2017, surrounded by his loving family. In addition to his wife of 71 years, he is survived by his 3 children, Paul (Katherine) Snyder, Gretchen (Tom) Puentes and David (Donna Venema) Snyder; 3 grandchildren, Kristin (Stephen) Belcher, Karen (Daniel) Lachman and Andrew (Kristyn) Snyder, and 7 great- grandchildren, Deming and Nathaniel Belcher, William, Tyler and Patrick Lachman and Jack and Brooke Snyder. He is also survived by his youngest brother, Douglas Snyder, Olean NY.
Mr. Snyder served in the U.S. Navy during WWII. While stationed in California he met his beloved Rusty, who also served in the Navy as a WAVE. They were married in 1945. After the war, Lawrence attended Lafayette College in Easton, PA and graduated in 1951. Shortly after graduation he became the Director of Admissions at Lafayette.
In 1955 Mr. Snyder accepted a position as a college recruiter for Atlas Powder Company in Wilmington DE and moved his family to West Chester. He loved Chester County and chose to reside there for the rest of his life.
His successful career in Human Resources led him to employment with Mobil Oil Corporation and The Franklin Mint, but his favorite position was that of Vice President of Operations for the Philadelphia Museum of Art. It was there that he enjoyed the most interesting and rewarding years of his professional life. He retired after spending 20 marvelous years at the museum.
A voracious reader, avid golfer, gardener, fisherman and paint-er, Mr. Snyder also loved travel-ing with his wife. Their most non-traditional trips included riding elephants in Thailand, walking along the Great Wall of China, photographing wild animals on safari in Kenya, living in a tree house and exploring the Amazon River Valley and climbing Ayers Rock in Uluru, Australia. They also visited England, Italy, Yugoslavia, Mexico, Bermuda, Canada and many beautiful and interesting sights in the United States.
Mr. Snyder was happiest when doing things for others. Many days found him refinishing or repairing furniture, painting beautiful scenes on canvasses or murals on walls, digging and nurturing gardens, putting up fences and joyfully attacking other projects for his children, grandchildren, great-grand-children and neighbors.
He felt very blessed in later life to have all of his grandchildren and great-grandchildren living close by so that he and Mrs. Snyder could see them often and be actively involved in their lives. Christmas morning, which found him surrounded by three generations of family members, was one of his favorite days of the year.
Family and friends are invited to a Memorial Service to be held at Wellington at Hershey's Mill on Saturday, April 1, at 12 Noon. A luncheon at Wellington will follow at 1 P.M. In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made in Mr. Snyder's honor to Melanoma Research Foundation (MRF), P.O. Box 759329, Baltimore MD 21295-9329 or St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis TN 38105.