Lodi community crusader Virginia Snyder dies at 87
Virginia Owen Snyder, a champion of the homeless, a tireless community volunteer and a take-charge woman of many talents, died on March 8 in Lodi. She was 87.
“She was a go-getter. If there was something that needed to get done she would always jump into it,” her son, Michael Snyder, said, noting she was a member of the Historical Society, the Eastside Improvement Committee, the Adult Literacy program and helped establish the “A Hand Up” program that advocated for the homeless population.
Social worker, care home owner, real estate connoisseur, author and local philanthropist were just some of the hats that she was known to wear.
“She was just always very active with everything. She never waited around for someone else to take care of it,” Michael said.
He said he will miss the leadership and direction she provided to anyone she came in contact with.
“She was the boss of the whole world,” Michael said. “It didn’t matter whether you were in the grocery store or a church or in a business setting, she had better ideas and she would explain how things should be running for you. She was in fact the boss of anybody she ever met. I’ll miss that because, as she got older, it certainly got to be a little more humorous.”
He laughed as he recalled his mother talking to mechanics when she didn’t know anything about cars or how she’d tell people in local government how to run the city.
“She was quite direct, and she was in charge of everything. All you had to do was ask her, and she’d let you know,” Michael said.
Snyder was known to have played a pivotal role in kickstarting the homeless efforts in Lodi.
“The last home that she lived in was on the far Eastside right up against Highway 99, and there was a pathway for the homeless people to come in and out of Lodi,” Michael said. “They were always passing by her house. Rather than making the situation worse or causing confrontation, she decided to try to work with this homeless committee to help people get the things they needed with clothing and showers, haircuts and job interviews and whatever else she could do to help.”
Lodi Watershed Coordinator Kathy Grant, who was a member of Snyder’s outreach group, also recalled Snyder’s homeless advocacy.
“She started the first homeless outreach group in Lodi 15 years ago,” Grant said. “She was a mighty woman. She worked hard for the rights of the homeless at a time where they just arrested people for being homeless, which is not a crime, and she was the first person to say that out loud. That really turned a corner with how we saw the homeless.”
Grant said she and Snyder were always looking for opportunities to work with the homeless, encouraging them to be productive members of the community and earn the things that were given to them.
“Virginia was instrumental in the way I saw the homeless,” Grant said. “It’s a hard lifestyle to understand, and she always saw the person and the dignity first. She didn’t mess around. Whatever Virginia Snyder wanted, Virginia Snyder got. She was a very organized, forceful woman with a huge heart. I miss her dearly.”
Lodi Councilwoman JoAnne Mounce remembers the huge role Snyder played in her life.
“I was 31 when I met Virginia Snyder, and she was the person who started the Lodi Eastside Improvement Committee,” Mounce said. “I remember meeting her at the very first meeting that I attended, and she was excited to see a young person get involved. Within a short amount of time they appointed me as the community outreach director, and I remember her telling me that I can do this and that means the world to me.”
Mounce recalled how Snyder believed in her and supported her in her decision to run for city council.
“It wasn’t necessarily that she encouraged me to run so much as she said I could if I wanted to, and that I would be a great Eastside representative,” Mounce said. “She was my neighbor for many years. She was my personal friend. I just loved and respected her more than you know.”
Mounce said she will miss Snyder’s kind and inclusive leadership.
Snyder was born in Arkansas and spent the last 50 years of her life in Lodi. She is survived by her two sons, Michael and David. Her daughter, Karen, preceded her in death. She also leaves behind several grandchildren.
Michael remembers Snyder as being a prolific writer who was always authoring something, and said her favorite projects over the years were writing plays for her grandchildren to perform.
“She would always set up some kind of little stage or something in the backyard, and the grandkids would come over, and they would have to be some character she invented,” Michael chuckled as he recalled the fond memory of his mother.
Snyder was a devout Lutheran Christian, and her faith was more important to her than anything, Michael said.
“In some of the last conversations that we had she was looking forward to being reunited with my sister and her mother,” Michael said. “My sister died quite a few years ago, and she was very young when she died, so mom was quite looking forward to being reunited with her again.”