David Eugene "Buddy" Snow

David Eugene Snow (Buddy), age 69, of North Pole, passed away July 8, 2008 from melanoma cancer. He was born January 8, 1939, in Esterville, Iowa.

At an early age, the family moved to Clear Lake, Iowa, and for most of his teen years he worked piloting boats on the lake.

In 1964, he became a newspaper pressman apprentice for the Mason City Globe Gazette where he completed the course and became a journeyman newspaper pressman.

After working for the Globe Gazette for six years, he moved the family to the Twin Cities in Minnesota to work for the Minneapolis Star Tribune where he remained until the newspaper downsized and gave him a buyout and early retirement.

That gave David and Judy the opportunity to fulfill a lifelong dream of moving to Alaska to build a log home.

Upon completion of the log home, David went back to work for the Anchorage Daily News, where he retired again in 1998.

His hobbies included spending time with his grandchildren, working crossword puzzles with his daughters, riding his Harley, playing on his computer and his movie collection.

One of the grandkids' fondest memories is of Buddy giving them rides on the Buddy bike. David and Judy put many miles on their Harley touring Alaska before parking it for the last time in 2005.

The family stated, "David fulfilled a lifelong dream when he moved to Alaska in 1982. He has always wanted to see and travel the highway that his father helped build, so after two trips up, he made the big move." 

In 2005, he fulfilled another dream when he was baptized with his wife by his grandson Nathaniel.

David is preceded in death by his father, Jean Edwin Snow, one brother Bruce Snow, and his father- and mother-in-law, Floyd and Netha Dodd.

He is survived by his wife, soul mate and best friend of 48 years, Judy Snow of North Pole; mother, Fern Zinser of Clear Lake; five children, Jacquelin Gold of Anchorage, Debora Coe of Rochester, Minn., Lanyon Snow of Nora Springs, Iowa, (Susan), Suzanne Helgeson of North Pole (Donnie), and Traci Burgess of Anchorage (Daniel); grandchildren Nathaniel (Kristin), Megahn (Tarron), Zachary (Jennifer), Trevor, Ashley (fiancee Isaiah), Tanner, Justin (fiancee Joni), Briana, Sara (fiancee Lincoln) and Diamond; four great-grandchildren; brothers Harlan (Gayle) and Larry of Clear Lake; in-laws Jeralyn (Jim) Palmer of Fresno, Calif., and Ivan (Carole) Dodd of Garner, Iowa, and numerous nieces and nephews.

A celebration of David's life will be held at 11 a.m. Sunday July 13, 2008, at North Pole Seventh-Day Adventist Church in North Pole.