Marathon employee loved volunteer work

5/17/2004

FINDLAY - John Walter Snyder, who worked in data processing at Marathon Oil for 40 years, died Friday at Blanchard Valley Regional Health Center. He was 82.

The family did not know the cause of death, his daughter Ann Benavides said.

Mr. Snyder graduated from Findlay High School in 1939 and went to work for what was then Ohio Oil.

His daughter said she remembers going to work with him when he had jobs to finish in the evenings, and making computer punch cards.

Mr. Snyder retired in 1980 as a tape librarian.

He spent a lot of time on volunteer work, his daughter said.

He volunteered at the University of Findlay when they did mailings, and he helped copy and assemble the Sunday bulletins at First Presbyterian Church, where he was a member, and at Norcrest United Presbyterian Church, where he had previously been a member.

He also helped fill Easter eggs, was a deacon, and an elder.

"He was always really generous, as far as his time, and willing to help people out," his daughter said.

Mr. Snyder was born Aug. 5, 1921, in Hancock County. He married Ann Yvonne DeLesDernier in 1949. She died in 1961.

He and his twin sister took piano lessons when they were children, and Mr. Snyder learned the organ as well.

"He liked to play the organ, and there were some times at church that he filled in," his daughter said.

Surviving are his daughters, Ann Elizabeth Benavides and Jean Ellen Waaland; son, John Michael Snyder; sister, Jane Ebert; seven grandchildren; and a great-grandson.

Services will be held at 1 p.m. Wednesday at First Presbyterian Church. There is no visitation. Kirkpatrick-Behnke Funeral Home handled arrangements.

The family suggests tributes to the church or to Blanchard Valley Health Foundation.