Louise A. Snedden

Posted

(Sept. 26, 1914 - Dec. 4, 2014)

Louise A. Snedden passed away on Dec. 4, 2014, at the Powell Valley Care Center. She was 100 years old.

Ms. Louise Snedden was born in Herman, Neb., and came to Powell in 1916 when her parents, Wallace and Anna Anderson, who came to establish their homestead here.

After the North End property soil was found to be alkaline, their homestead was relinquished, and a farm was purchased five miles southwest of Powell. Acreage for grazing cattle on the north shore of the Shoshone River served as a playground for Louise and her sister, Eleanor, as children.

They rode horses in summer, skated on the frozen marshes and sledded down the riverbank slopes in winter. They helped with the farm chores and lived off the land during the Great Depression. When she left for the University of Wyoming, Louise said, “I had home-sewn dresses and calluses on my hands from piling beans in the fall harvest.”

During the Great Depression, Louise was pleased to be hired as a corporate secretary in Billings at $75 a month. During World War II, she found other opportunities in Cheyenne, where she worked for the Wyoming Senate during one legislative term and for the Air Force. After the War, she worked as an executive secretary and administrative assistant to the president of an insurance company in Dallas and San Francisco.

Life took her in another direction with her marriage to Thomas M. Snedden, whose employer, an industrial engineering and construction firm, sent them to Beersheba, Israel, in the middle of the Negev Desert. Louise commented that here she was, “making my way among donkey carts rather than being on the lookout for fast taxis.” She enjoyed the community of immigrants who were coming to the tiny Arab settlement, eager to tell of their home countries and varied backgrounds. She described the region at relative peace and visits to ancient sites and cities.

Before retiring in Powell, Louise and Tom lived in nine states, from the Mojave Desert to the wooden hills of West Virginia. They lived city lives with cultural attractions where Louise took music and art instruction; and lives in the desert with broiling temperatures and no air conditioning. Louise found interesting work along the way: at the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston, she assembled biographical sketches on the astronauts; at Williams Air Force Base in Arizona, she recorded pilot evaluations after test flights of new fighter aircraft; in Denver she worked as a secretary to the local Director and a grants administrator for the nation’s Bicentennial Celebration Commission.

Louise loved playing golf and browsing antique shops; and following retirement in Powell, attending classes at Northwest College. She was a member and held offices in both the EPASC club of Powell, and Fine Arts Club. She was an interested supporter of the Homesteader Museum.

Louise was a lovely, elegant lady who will be missed by her family and friends. Survivors include her sister’s children Anne Isenhower and Maury Hexamer; grandniece Cherise (Robert) Black, grandnephew Wynne Hexamer, grandnephew Clif Hexamer and grandnephew Gavin Tucker; great grandniece Amber Louise Black, great grandnephew Skyler Bert Black; cousin Wilber (Sue) Clark, and many other relatives.

Service will be held at Saint John’s Episcopal Church in Powell, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2014 at 11 a.m. Burial will be in the Crown Hill Cemetery.

Donations may be made to the Northwest College Foundation, the Homesteader Museum, the Powell Public Library or the charity of your choice.

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