Catherine Elizabeth Snedeker

For anyone who has ever asked the question “What will I ever do without my mom?” and had to answer that, we now join you on this journey. Her life was one of love, and the pain that follows when love is lost. Her birth occurred two years before The Great Depression in Coshocton, Ohio. This distinctly small town America on the banks of three small rivers and the Erie Canal saw Robert and Jennie Hartman Lockard give birth to their fifth and last child, Catherine Elizabeth. Cathy or “Kate”, as many of her family and friends would call her endearingly, was unaware of the times that she, her family and a nation of good people would soon face. The severity of the times affected the young in ways not understood by their innocent spirits and yet became commonplace as the only thing they knew. This made for an austere upbringing in a full household where Cathy was raised by and amidst her parents and the collective love of her older siblings, Leo, Betty Murray, Ray and Mary Cooper. Towards the end of World War II, Cathy graduated from Sacred Heart Catholic School. From there she graduated from business school and immediately began her bookkeeping and accounting career. Throughout her life she sat in the wooden pews of Sacred Heart Church and prayed for people, and if you knew Cathy at any point in her life, chances are she prayed for you. It was here in this picturesque stained glass and red brick church overlooking the town in 1950 that Cathy exchanged vows with Wallace Snedeker. Cathy and Wally would welcome their first child Robert to the world before leaving Ohio for Beaver Falls, PA. They would return years later with four children and spend 9 years raising their family in a beautiful house on a hill. During this time, Cathy raised a close-knit family and became the bookkeeper for the Coshocton Lumber Company. With sons Bob and Craig out of college and daughter Lisa out of high school, Cathy and Wally with their youngest son David moved to Springfield, Illinois. With David off to college, Cathy headed east to Metropolitan Washington D.C. to be close to son Craig and daughter Lisa and start a new life. It was here that Cathy became the bookkeeper for the National Electric Sign Association and later bought her own home in Alexandria, VA. Cathy would return to the Ohio region to live near her sister Mary, her four grandchildren and work alongside her eldest son Bob in Newark, Ohio for eleven years as office manager and bookkeeper for Quality Chemical Company. In 2007, Lisa requested her mother to come live by her family in the Nashville, Tennessee area where Cathy settled in Franklin and finally Columbia. This past fall of 2010, Catherine Elizabeth Lockard Snedeker was escorted down the aisle by her eldest grandson Michael in a church filled with family and friends. Cathy sat proudly and watched her eldest child Bob give away her eldest granddaughter Jessica to Michael Bailey. Cathy smiled proudly as Bob sat down and held the hand of his wife of 35 years and the mother of the bride, Brenda Bible Snedeker. Standing at the altar with bride and groom were Bob and Brenda’s other children, Mary, the maid of honor, John and Michael, the groomsmen. Loving son Craig and Karin Meadows Snedeker’s children Kate and Caroline were flower girls, along with youngest granddaughter Annie, daughter of Cathy’s youngest son, David and his love, Amy Wieczorek. Sitting behind Cathy was devoted daughter Lisa, son-in-law Thomas “Rick” Tewell and their children Christian and Valerie. Also in attendance were Cathy’s twin nephews Rick and Randy Cooper with their wives. It would be the last time our cherished mother, our matriarch, would sit and enjoy the collective fruits of her greatest joy, her job as mother of a family that she guided, nurtured, and dearly loved. If we could have one more moment with our mom in this life we’ve grown so accustomed to, we would hug her. We would hold on to her until we cry, and then hug a little tighter, gently squeezing out all of the pain that the gravity of life brings, and for one last moment bask in the sweetness of the love that we all felt many years ago the first time she held each of us. On Easter morning in the year of our Lord 2011 at Poplar Estates in Columbia, Tennessee where she was cared for by a wonderful staff, Cathy walked to her favorite chair, sat down, closed her eyes for a nap and peacefully drifted into the presence of her Lord. In one sacred moment in time her physical radiance, her boisterous laugh, her love of fresh ripe tomatoes, chocolate and caramels and lemon squares, her compassion, her love of the sun and the beach, her love of reading, antique furniture and miniature porcelain shoe collection, her candor and her joie de vivre, all became our treasured memories. As we release the physical experience of her and we venture into a yet unexplored relationship with her beautiful spirit that encompasses all the very best of her, we look forward to being enriched by her love every day for the rest of our lives until we join her in the most exquisite place. Join us as we celebrate Catherine Elizabeth Lockard Snedeker and memorialize her wonderful life on May 21st at 11 a.m. at Spring Hills Baptist Church, 1820 Newark Granville Road, Granville, Ohio 43023 with a luncheon to follow. Cathy loved flowers and at the same time, she would hope that anything spent in memory of her would live on in the benefit of another. If you are so inclined, please honor the memory of Cathy’s wonderful life with a donation to: Heartbeats of Licking County, 336 East Main Street, Newark, Ohio 43055. http://www.firststring.org Our family thanks you for your thoughts and prayers and sharing in the memory of our beloved mother and we welcome your remembrances at: www.snedekerfamily.com and www.cremationsocietyoftn.com Cards may be sent to: Bob & Brenda Snedeker, 1187 Evansdale Avenue, Newark, OH 43055 The Cremation Society of Tennessee is assisting the family with arrangements.