June Rose (Malatinsky) Snyder

June Rose (Malatinsky) Snyder, life-long resident of Lansing, Michigan, went to her heavenly home in the early hours of March 10, 2025. Born June 26, 1932, to Rose Helen (Kleinedler) Malatinsky and Stephen Malatinsky, June graduated from Eastern High School in 1951, and on June 24 of the same year married Wendell A. Snyder, a cute, strawberry blond young man whom June would sneak into the Northtown Theatre where she was an usherette during her high school years. Prior to starting her family, June worked for Farm Bureau Insurance as a stenographer. But when her baby bump began to show, she was let go from a job she loved. It was the 1950s.

Over the next decade, June and Wendell had four children who would test her patience and authority. She was known to frequently admonish her misbehaving offspring with, “wait until your dad gets home.” Sunday afternoons were reserved for going to her parents’ house for family get-togethers. The aunts would be in the house checking out grandma’s latest intricately crocheted doilies, the uncles would be sitting on the pumphouse, talking sports, and drinking the cheapest beer available – Tudor, Schlitz, Goebel’s – and the cousins would be playing softball in the side yard with great Uncle Joe. These are the days that mom could recall when the Alzheimer’s began to fog her reality. Family was everything to her, especially her grandkids and great grandchildren, and Christmas was her favorite holiday. Her greatest joy came when her family gathered for the traditional holiday celebrations. She would bake oversized turkeys, make all the trimmings for Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Easter meals, and decorate the house elaborately for each holiday.

June was an accomplished knitter, crocheter, and seamstress. She produced afghans, doilies, her children’s clothes, and entire wardrobes for the Barbies, Midges, and Tressies her daughters played with – on a treadle sewing machine. Her son threw a monkey wrench into these works, however, as she had to learn how to cook the squirrels and rabbits he’d bring home after spending an afternoon in the woods hunting behind the house. One year (she was well into her 70s) he gifted her with a 2004 Arctic Cat z570 and the appropriate attire. They racked up the miles riding the trails between Montague and Shelby, taking in the breathtaking views of Lake Michigan and the dunes. Mom was a trouper to say the least. And she was every bit of a fashionista. She never left the house without being impeccably dressed, coifed, and made up.

As her children got older, June went back to work at a variety of jobs, all of which she loved and in which she found great fulfillment. June was a room mother for her children when they were in elementary school and worked in the office at Sheridan Road School for a number of years. She worked for the Lansing State Journal for a time and was employed by the state of Michigan in the Michigan Department of Public Health vital records section, and at the Governor’s residence. For a half dozen years, June cared for her two grandsons from their infancy up to their preschool days. They kept her young and active, to say the least!

For fun, June made several trips to Nashville with her good friend, June Walker. These girls’ trips took busloads of country music fans to Nashville every summer to meet the stars. And meet them she did. A favorite moment was her interaction with Bill Anderson who was a friend of Jim Hough, who was a legendary columnist at the Lansing State Journal. When Bill found out mom had connections to the Journal and knew Jim, well, she was embraced as family. Mom was also an avid fan of Irish tenor, Daniel O’Donnell, whom she met on several occasions, waiting in line for hours to have her photo taken with him and to give and receive hugs. He was gracious and very accommodating to his adoring fans.

June and Wendell gave their family the gift of a lifetime, a summer home on Lake Michigan in the ‘60s. Dad built a log cabin with the generous help of family and friends. It is perched on a dune overlooking the big lake in the White River Beach Association (WRBA) in Montague. The family spent every summer and many weekends there, where close friendships and bonds were formed and remain to this day. June loved her WRBA family. While she may have seemed reserved, it was because she was shy. But her love for fellow WRBA members was true.

Mom loved coffee. You could almost always find her sitting at the kitchen table with a hot, really hot, cup of coffee; or on the warm days of summer and early fall, she would park herself at the bistro table outside, enjoying her cup of joe with a neighbor or two sipping and chatting.

There are no words kind enough or generous enough to relate the very special care provided to mom on the last legs of her Alzheimer’s journey. The staff, aides, and residents at The Woodlands of DeWitt memory care wing all helped mom when she lost her way. And to the nurses, aides, and doctors at Sparrow Hospice House of Mid-Michigan, their kindness, compassion, and exceptional skilled care helped allieviate June’s distress as well as reassure her family that what was being experienced was all within the realm of the Alzheimer’s/dementia disease. We especially want to thank friends and family members who extended themselves to us during this trying time. We couldn’t have borne the grief of the ‘long goodbye’ without your gracious support and big shoulders to lean on.

June is survived by her four children – Cynthia Snyder of St. Ignace, Mary (Zeke) Fleet of Traverse City, Sue (Randy) Carpenter of Charlotte, and Karl (Leslie Zehnder) Snyder of Lansing; six grandchildren – Kathleen Fleet Martin (Jeremy) of Monticello, Utah, Kerry Fleet (Mark Bisdorf) of Sault Ste. Marie, Travis Carpenter of Charlotte, Lane (Olivia) Carpenter of Allegan, Shuyuan Snyder of Lansing, TszYan Snyder of Lansing; two great-grandchildren, Rosie and Johnny Carpenter of Allegan; sister, Helen Walker of Mason; brother, Joe (Sally) Malatinsky of Lansing; sister-in-law, Karen Domanski of Laingsburg; many nieces and nephews; and dear life-long friends and neighbors, Marilyn Mather and Jo and Lloyd Meheleder. Her husband, Wendell, preceded her in death May 4, 2018.

A small graveside service will be held Monday, March 17 at 2:00 p.m., with a celebration of June’s life being planned for later this summer. Arrangements are by the Estes-Leadley Greater Lansing Chapel. In lieu of flowers, June would love donations to be made to Special Olympics Michigan.