MARIE E. SNYDER, 1921-2014

Teacher recognized as community leader

7/28/2014

Marie E. Snyder, a dedicated Perrysburg teacher and recipient of a number of local leadership awards, died Wednesday at the Kingston Residence of Perrysburg. She was 93.

Her daughter, Janet M. Jackson, said “she left peacefully” and died “of old age.”

She had a lifelong commitment to learning and teaching. She received a bachelor’s degree in education from Bowling Green State University and master’s in arts and master’‍s in science degrees from Western Michigan University.

She got her first job as a teacher in 1943 after graduating from BGSU. She taught a group of 55 first graders at a school in Whitehouse. “Her passion was teaching,” Mrs. Jackson said. “She was always coming up with new ideas and creative, new ways to make learning fun.”

Mrs. Jackson said that her mother set up a log cabin in her classroom that children loved to go inside to read. Her creativity with children seems to have matched her patience. “Being a teacher, she never had a bad kid. It was just someone she could guide in a new direction,” Mrs. Jackson said.

Mrs. Snyder was born on March 20, 1921, in Bremerton, Wash., to Joseph and Adeline Evans. Mr. Evans originally was from the Toledo area, but was in the Navy at the time. When he retired, the family moved back to Toledo where Mrs. Snyder was raised, Mrs. Jackson said.

In 1951, she married Marvin L. Snyder. Mrs. Jackson said he worked for Coca-Cola in Sturgis, Mich. While living in Michigan, Mrs. Snyder worked in a two-room school teaching first and second grades.

Eventually, Mrs. Snyder returned to the Toledo area and resided in Perrysburg. She taught at Perrysburg schools for 35 years. Over the years, she taught at the building known as the Old Schoolhouse on Louisiana Avenue, at Frank Elementary School, and at Woodland Elementary School.

Mrs. Snyder’‍s interests extended beyond the classroom. “She was involved in so many things,” Mrs. Jackson said. “She loved service.”

Mrs. Snyder helped form Perrysburg’s Safety Town program for young children. She received a Valley Forge Freedom Foundation award for her work with this program.

She was one of the founders of the Kip Boulis Foundation. Kip Boulis, a Perrysburg police officer, drowned in the Maumee River on Memorial Day, 1976, trying to save people whose boat had capsized. The foundation offers scholarships to Perrysburg High School students interested in careers with law enforcement.

Mrs. Snyder was always thinking of others, her daughter said, and the community recognized her for her efforts.

She received the Community Leader of America award three times.

She also received the Martha Jennings Scholarship and the Girl Scouts of America Outstanding Leader award.

“She was fun-loving, outgoing, and thoughtful,” Mrs. Jackson said. “She gave 110 percent to everything she did.”

Surviving are her daughter, Janet, and a sister, Joann Lowry.

Funeral services will be held at 10:30 a.m. today at the First United Methodist Church, 200 W. Second St., Perrysburg.

The family suggests tributes to Hospice of Northwest Ohio or to the Black Swamp Conservancy.

Contact Kathleen Ashcraft at: kashcraft@theblade.com or 419-724-6050.