Phoebe Jones Snyder

Phoebe Jones Snyder of Tucson, Arizona, passed away on April 1, 2014. Phoebe was born May 19, 1930, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and was raised by her parents, Dorothy and Horace Jones, in Brookings, South Dakota and Amherst, Massachusetts. Phoebe graduated with honors from Northfield School for girls in 1948, where, as a class president, she excelled in violin, sports and academics and enjoyed teaching archery, diving and swimming. She attended the University of Massachusetts in Amherst and was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta sorority. Phoebe left the university to marry the love of her life, Richard, at age 18. She followed her husband, a military pilot and research scientist, living in Nevada, Texas, California, Delaware, Massachusetts, New York, Arizona, Oklahoma and Michigan, as well as traveling throughout the world, managing to raise a very active family of six children along the way. She worked hard to keep up with her children, and loved to tell the story of their ski trip to Vail, CO, when she found herself on an isolated ski slope, separated from the group, and President Ford came skiing by and fell right in front of her. Phoebe was a member of the GMC Saguaro Jetsets, as well as Western and International GMC clubs, and enjoyed traveling the country in their classic GMC motorhome, often driving long distances alone to meet up with her husband. They traveled across America countless times, including visits to Newfoundland, Alaska and Canada, putting over 342,000 miles on their home-away-from home. Phoebe was a very talented artist, creating three-dimensional collages using driftwood collected on her travels to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Florida, California and New England. Her unique pieces, which she called "assemblages," were often exhibited at juried fairs in Ann Arbor, Minneapolis and the Mid-West, and she received many awards. Phoebe is survived by her husband of 65 years, Dr. Richard G. Snyder; daughters, Dorinda Gayle (John) Duford and Sherrill Snyder; sons, Paul (Laurie) Snyder and Jon Snyder and grandchildren, Lisa Shumaker, Jeremy Snyder, Daniel Snyder, Channa Snyder, Kimberly (Derek) Munn, Nicholas Duford and Phoebe Anne Duford. She was preceded in death by U.S. Air Force pilot sons, Lieut. Jeffrey Snyder and Lieut. David Shawn Snyder and her parents, Dorothy and Horace Jones. Private family services will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations in Phoebe's memory to her special charity, the Hermitage Cat Shelter, 5278 E. 21st St., Tucson, AZ 85711 or the Air Force Memorial Foundation AirForceMemorial.org/donate. The family wishes to thank Gentiva Hospice for loving care. Arrangements by the NEPTUNE SOCIETY.