Wendell A. Snyder

Sept. 20, 1930 – May 4, 2018

Tinker and sailor, bookworm and music maker . . .

Wendell Arthur Snyder, life-long resident of Lansing, Michigan, went to his heavenly home on May 4, 2018.  Born Sept. 20, 1930, to Clayton Harvey Snyder and Agnes Maude (Acre) Snyder, Wendell graduated from Eastern High School in 1948, taking a job at the old Home Dairy Cafeteria in downtown Lansing before hiring in at The Lansing State Journal (LSJ).  He retired from the Journal after more than 40 years of dedicated service – working his way up from janitor to Assistant Circulation Manager.  After retirement, Wendell continued to work part time at the Journal’s production plant for another ten years.  Guess you could say newspaper ink was in his blood!  One of the last dreams he shared involved trying to solve a problem at the LSJ.

In his retirement, Wendell pursued a number of hobbies, including gardening, which he would do with his grandkids, passing on to them his love of the soil and sharing the miracles hiding within each seed.  He was an avid reader with a knee-high stack of books always by his chair; from the history of WWII and the birth of India, to the Civil Rights movement and the Civil War.  (His great grandfather served in both the Third and Fifth Michigan Voluntary Infantries during the Civil War, and was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for capturing a Confederate flag at the Battle of Saylor’s Creek in Virginia.)  Wendell loved to tinker on and drive his classic Volkswagen Beetles.  He was planning to drive one of his Bugs in the inaugural Beetle the Mac bridge crossing in August.  He also loved the big lakes, building a cottage on Lake Michigan and teaching himself to sail his 24-foot boat, the Press on Regardless, where he’d spend countless hours taking family and friends sailing.  Perhaps Wendell’s greatest passion was music.  He was a proud member of the Lansing Chapter of the Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America, and a self-taught violin player.  He would frequently attend Jamborees in the area with his sister, and fiddle around at backyard and beach bonfires while all joined in in song.  And he was a huge Detroit Tiger fan, never failing to get to at least one game every season and watching the rest on television.  But Wendell’s greatest loves in life were his wife, June, his children, and grandkids.  We will all miss him deeply, and will continue to Press on Regardless to honor the gentle and selfless man that he was.

Wendell is survived by his wife of nearly 67 years, June (Malatinsky) Snyder, four children – Cynthia Snyder, Mary (Zeke) Fleet, Sue (Randy) Carpenter, and Karl (Leslie Zehnder); and six grandchildren – Kathleen Fleet Martin (Jeremy), Kerry Fleet, Travis Carpenter, Lane Carpenter (Olivia), Shuyuan Snyder, and TszYan Snyder – the lights of his life; and sisters Lois Downing, Karen (Tom) Domanski, brother-in-law Estol Swem, and many nieces and nephews.

A private graveside service is planned.  Arrangements are by the Estes-Leadley Greater Lansing Chapel.