BATH – Town of Alfred native Frank Lyle Snyder, 93, of McGibney Road, Belmont, breathed his last breath Friday, Jan. 22, 2021 at the Bath V.A. Hospital, following a long life well lived.
Born Dec. 2, 1927 on Rock Hill south of Alfred, current site
of the Alfred University Equestrian Center, oldest son of Earnest M. and Ferne
(Jacox) Snyder, he grew up on Edgewood Farm on Randolph Road, which his parents
purchased in 1930. There, he watched in horror as fire destroyed the family
home and barn in 1931. He witnessed his father rebuild it all, only to see the
barn destroyed by fire again in 1939.
He first attended Alfred Grade School, then the new
Alfred-Almond Central School beginning in 1940, where he graduated with the
Class of 1945. While farm work limited his involvement in fall and spring
sports at A-A, he did excel on the basketball court during winter months. A
free throw shooting whiz, he won the Allegany County Free Throw Shooting
Contest in both 1945 and 1946, making 22 of 25, and 24 of 25, respectively.
After A-A lost by a single point in the 1945 Section V Class B championship
game, Coach Paul Powers persuaded Frank to take post-graduate classes and play
another season of basketball in 1945-46, which he did, helping the Eagles win
their first Section V championship.
Frank attended his first Alfred University football game
with his father in September 1937, coinciding with Alex Yunevich’s coaching
debut, and was hooked for life. One can count on one hand the number of home
games he missed over nine decades.
He served with the U.S. Army for 13 months in 1946-47,
stationed in Manila, Philippines, where among 5,000 troops, he was offered
first dibs on his assignment and chose to run the post exchange, together with
his A-A classmate Dave Ferry. “Born lucky,” he became “blessed” on Feb. 15,
1948 when he married Jean Marie Palmer, aka “The Tinkertown Charmer,” also a 1945
A-A grad, and daughter of Fred and Doris (Potter) Palmer. They first resided in
a house he and his brothers helped his father build near the family farm on
Randolph Road.
Frank worked with his father on Edgewood Farm until November
1948 when he rented Sunny Cove Farm from Alva Fitz Randolph, where he milked a
Holstein dairy. He purchased the farm in 1950. The original farmhouse, deemed
beyond repair, was replaced in 1953 with a prefabricated ranch house. There,
Frank and Jean made their home with two daughters, soon thereafter adding two
sons.
When milk prices dropped and the dairy farm proved
unsustainable, Frank gradually sold off his Holstein herd and in 1958 purchased
the Ford Gum vending machine franchise from John Gorton. He continued to make
hay, pastured 65 head of beef cattle and boarded horses during the next 17
years. He sold the gumball vending business in 1975.
Early in their marriage, through the ministry of Rev. Hurley
S. Warren, Frank professed faith in Jesus Christ, was baptized and joined the
Alfred Seventh Day Baptist Church, where he served as trustee, church
president, and deacon.
A jack of all trades and master of most, in addition to
farming and selling gumballs, Frank at one time installed phones for the local
telephone company, served as a nighttime security guard at the College of
Ceramics, was a substitute rural route mail carrier, operated the Main Street
Gulf service station, served as an Alfred Town Assessor, and together with brothers
Ken and Nelson purchased and developed real estate as Alfred Community Enterprises.
After purchasing his grandfather Clarence Jacox’s farm on
Jericho Hill, Frank built what is now known as Snyder Road, where he sold
building lots on the hillside overlooking Alfred. Together with his son Jerry,
in 1978 he reestablished Sunny Cove Farm as a dairy farm. Upon Jerry’s marriage
to Dotty Hotaling in 1983, Frank and Jean sold the farm to them and relocated
to a farm on McGibney Road in the Town of Ward, which they bought from Frank’s brother,
Ken. There, he remodeled the farmhouse, and, after selling the dairy in 1984, continued
to harvest hay and cash crops. He later sold the farm to Chuck Deichmann, maintaining
life use of the home, where he was primary caregiver of his wife during her
five- year decline and subsequent passing in March 2007 due to Alzheimer’s.
A music lover, he marveled at the talent of Alfred
University student instrumentalists, seldom missing a performance. While
inheriting his father’s stellar work ethic, Frank was not all work and no play.
When the work was done, the play began. Basketball, volleyball, softball, ping
pong, bowling, camping, swimming… there was little he didn’t enjoy. He was a
real competitor in any game of cards, a trait that he passed to his offspring.
For many years, he played pinochle with his pals (John Jacox, Bill Stopper,
Herm Sicker, etal) at the Alfred fire hall and, later in life, was a regular
with Alan Burdick’s poker posse. An avid bowler, he was a regular league bowler
on the Squirrel’s Nest Motel team in the Tuesday 6:45 League at the former Tech
Lanes in Alfred, also traveling with a Hornell area tournament team.
He also loved to travel. In 1966, after purchasing a
commercial van for his gumball business, he led the family on a three-week
camping adventure to California, visiting numerous friends and relatives along
the way. He and Jean enjoyed travels to Europe, Canada, the Caribbean, New
England, Florida and more. Later, he returned to the Philippines for a visit together
with his daughter Susan. In addition to
his parents and his wife, he was predeceased by his brother Kenneth Snyder and
twin grandsons. Survivors include two
daughters, Susan Meacham and Barbara Welch; and two sons, Gerald Snyder (Dotty)
and David Snyder (Beverly), all residing in the Alfred area; two brothers, Harold
Snyder (Beverley), Nelson Snyder (Amanda); and two sisters, Kay Chapman of
Alfred Station and Dorothy Goodridge (Lyn) of Dover, NH; a brother-in-law, Jim
Palmer (Faith) and sister-in-law, Sue Palmer, all of Avon Park, Florida; 19
grandchildren, 20 great-grandchildren; and numerous cousins, nieces and
nephews.
At Frank’s request, there will be no calling hours. A private graveside service will be held at the convenience of the family. Arrangements were under the direction of J.W. Embser Sons Funeral Home, Inc. in Wellsville. To leave online condolences please visit www.embserfuneralhome.com.
