L. Jean Snyder

Jean Snyder passed away April 14, 2020 at Good Samaritan Society in Indianola, Iowa. Thank you to all of the Good Samaritan staff and to St. Croix Hospice for their wonderful care of Jean. Jean was born December 6, 1923 in Joplin, Missouri to Frank Munson Howerton and Janie May (Broyles) Howerton. Frank and Janie separated and Janie took baby Jean to Jay, Oklahoma to live with Janie’s parents, Joseph and Effie Fields. They all moved later to near Quapaw in northeastern Oklahoma. Jean went to country school, graduating 8th grade as Valedictorian. She started high school, riding a bus, to Quapaw. Her Grandmother died and Jean and Grandfather Fields went to live with an Aunt on her farm, where Jean could still ride the same bus to Quapaw High School for 3 years. Then Jean went to live with friends of her Grandfather in Miami, Oklahoma and worked her way through graduation by going to Miami High School half days and working the other half. High School was half days 6 days a week. Jean graduated May of 1941 at age 17 and found work in Joplin, Missouri, where she met and married Arthur Wayne Allen. Six months later Arthur was about to be drafted, so he joined the Air Force and was sent to Langley Field Air Base in Virginia. Jean was 6 months pregnant and moved to Albion, Iowa to live with Arthur’s parents Ida and Ivan Allen. Jean’s daughter, Carole Jean Allen was born in Allen’s home in December of 1942 with the help of Doctor Mantle, who lived next door to them. When baby Carole Jean was 6 months old, she and Jean went to Langley Field where Arthur got an apartment for the family. They lived there 3 years, then Arthur got an overseas order. Jean and 3-year-old Carole Jean went back to Marshalltown, Iowa, to live with Mom and Dad Allen, who had moved there from Albion. Dad Allen especially enjoyed little Carole Jean, who danced and sang and was a joy to all. Arthur came home on furlough, then was sent to Santa Ana Air Base in California, taking Jean and Carole Jean with him. They arrived in California on VJ Day August 15, 1945 (Victory in Japan). It took most of that day to get through the crowds and on to Santa Ana. Arthur found a place to stay while he reported to the Air Base. He was there only one month when he received orders to go to Champaign, Illinois Air Force Base (Chanute Field). They had a large apartment on base there until his discharge time came. The Air Force requested that Arthur stayed in the service to teach and offered a Master’s Degree to do so. He refused and the family moved back to Marshalltown, Iowa, where he set up a TV repair shop. In August of 1946, daughter Kathleen Sue Allen was born. The family moved a few times within Marshalltown the next few years, buying houses to fix up and resell. In March of 1952 daughter Lynda Kae Allen was adopted. Three years later Jean and Arthur were divorced. Jean had belonged to the Garden Club, assisted with Brownie Girl Scouts, was Junior Garden Club leader and won State Award for their year book. After the divorce, Jean found herself alone with three daughters to care. After finding that Arthur had mortgaged the house they had lived in, she and the girls had to live elsewhere. She took the girls for their preschool dental checkups and was offered a job as the Dental Assistant at the office since the previous girl had just walked out. Jean said she didn’t know anything about being a dental assistant and the dentist told her, “I will teach you”. Jean worked for that dentist until he retired, then was offered a job at Marshalltown Dental Lab at just the right time in her life. The owner of the dental lab retired. Jean worked at the Singer Sewing Machine Company for a while, then was offered a job at a medical doctor’s office. How Jean made it through those years mentally, physically, or financially, only God knows! Then in 1960, Carole Jean eloped when she became 18. Shortly thereafter, Kathleen married when she was 16. Then Jean met and married Addison Dean Snyder March 23, 1962. Addison worked for, and retired from Fisher Governor Company, (now Emerson) after 41 years. Jean went to work at Marshalltown Medical and Surgical Clinics as a ward secretary and became a float person to all departments doing miscellaneous jobs. In 1971, at age 47, Jean took a leave of absence and attended LPN school at Marshalltown Community College, graduated from there and went back to MMSC as a float LPN. Jean and Addison had a new house built at 402 New Castle Road in Marshalltown where they lived for 30 years. During that time, Lynda Kae married, divorced, moved to Phoenix, Arizona, remarried and stayed there. Jean and Addison sold their home in 1999 and moved into the Embers independent living facility in Marshalltown where they lived for 13 years. They then moved to Waukee in late December of 2012, where they lived only two weeks when Addison got very ill. He went from the next 2 weeks in Mercy Hospital West (where he was diagnosed with end-stage bone cancer) directly to Good Samaritan Society in Indianola where he passed away March 21, 2013. Jean resided with him during those 3 months and assisted in his care 24/7, then went to live with Carole Jean and her husband Jim DiMaio in Prole, Iowa. Jean loved flowers of all kinds and doing flower arrangements over the years for her church, Community of Christ (formerly RLDS) and for The Embers chapel. She was a 65-year member of her church. She always had flowers surrounding her home, which she planted and nourished. She published two cookbooks of her own and helped with other church cookbooks. She made many loads of pastries and breads for church bake sales. She and Addison painted the downstairs of church and planted flowers around the church and tended them. Over the years of raising her 3 girls, Jean loved to sew and made and/or altered clothes for herself and her girls. All of her girls were “proud” to wear one-of-a-kind, designer clothes made by her. She also did crochet and embroidery work and liked to hand-sew quilt blocks together. She was always busy making or doing something creative! She took oil painting classes at the Senior Citizen Center in Marshalltown and did some canvas paintings but didn’t feel she was accomplished enough to pursue that field. She also dabbled in charcoal drawings. Jean and Addison had a vegetable garden across their back yard at their new house. They also had a row of evergreens for beauty, a windbreak and home for many birds. Jean canned many pints and quarts of vegetables as well as made many jars of jams, jellies and preserves. There were bird feeders and corn cobs on or close to the back deck and large tree by the deck. Both used to love to watch the birds and squirrels come to eat. Jean is survived by her daughter Carole Jean Larson of Prole, IA; grandchildren Rocky Dimaio, Anthony Dimaio, LeAnn Dimaio (Mike) Miller all of Des Moines, IA, Anthony Cooper (Sheryl) of Hayward, CA; Joseph Kelderman of Nevada, IA; Christopher Ingledue (Jenny) of Eldora, IA, Tiffany Messner Widing of Phoenix, AZ; great-grandchildren Rocky Dimaio Jr, Nichole Parnell Dimaio, Kevon Cooper, Krystal Cooper, Danielle Lynette (Brent)  Mitchell, Derek David Brown, Alex Ingledue, Megan Ingledue, Olivia Ingledue; great-great-grandchildren Faith Dimaio, Jessica JoAnn Weiss and Jason Donovan Liam Erickson-Weiss; Sons-In-Law John White, Timothy Ingledue and Joseph Messner; Sister-In-Law Dotta (Snyder) Robertson; and special neighbors/friends on New Castle Road, Lyn and Jerry Rakowicz. Jean was proceeded in death by Husband, Addison; parents; grandparents; daughters, Kathleen Sue Kelderman and Lynda Kae Messner; Son-In-Law, James Anthony Dimaio; infant grandson Lonnie Rae Ayers; brothers Harold Bird and Joseph Crabtree; and many nieces and nephews in Oklahoma. Jean is in the care of Mitchell Family Funeral Home in Marshalltown and will be buried next to her husband in Rose Hill Memorial Gardens in Marshalltown. A funeral service for Jean will be livestreamed https://www.facebook.com/Mitchell-Family-Funeral-Home-99280714047/ at 1:00 p.m. on Monday, April 20, 2020. To leave a memory or condolence to the family please visit www.mitchellfh.com or phone 641-844-1234. Mitchell Family Funeral Home is caring for Jean and her family.