Mary Ellen HALL

1920 - 2016

• Born	20 Mar 1920	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
  Gender	Female
  Died	16 May 2016	Newton Square, Delaware Co., Pennsylvania
  Person ID	I1627	Johnson Hindin Tree
  Last Modified	24 Jul 2016

  
  

  Father	Colonel John Handy HALL,   b. 1 Jan 1874, Lynchburg, VA ,   d. 25 Jun 1919, Philadelphia, PA
  Mother	Rebecca Souder ASHCOM,   b. 8 Mar 1889, Riddlesburg, Bedford County, PA. ,   d. 10 Jan 1973, West Chester, Pennsylvania
  Married	2 Jun 1914	New York, New York
  Family ID	F566	Group Sheet

  
  

  Family	John Chaplin SNYDER
  Married	1943
  Children	1. Mary Elizabeth SNYDER,   b. 22 Apr 1944   2. John Charles SNYDER,   b. 18 Jan 1946   3. Barbara Ann SNYDER,   b. 10 Oct 1948,   d. 19 Jan 1949   4. William Thomas SNYDER,   b. 9 Nov 1949   5. Susan Ellen SNYDER,   b. 8 Sep 1951   6. Marjorie Jane SNYDER,   b. 16 Sep 1956   7. Robert Nathan SNYDER,   b. 21 Jan 1961
  Family ID	F569	Group Sheet

  
  

• Notes

  According to W. Thomas Hall, P.O. Box395, Kailua Hawaii 96734, pali@hgea.org, Mary Ellen married a Mr. Snyder and was a teacher in White Horse, PA. In 1999, she lived in Darling, PA and Newtown Square, PA. She and her husband had seven children. The following obituary appeared on the website of the Rigby, Harding & Hagan Funeral Home (Media, Pennsylvania) and was available in 2016: Mary Ellen Snyder May 16, 2016  View the Full Online Memorial   Mary Ellen Hall Snyder Grandmother of seventeen and great-grandmother of ten died peacefully on May 16, 2016 at the age of 96. She was born on March 9, 1920, the youngest and only daughter of Rebecca Ashcom Souder Hall and Lieutenant Colonel John Handy Hall.  After returning from World War I, her father, second in command of the 108th Field Artillery, died in a car accident before her birth. Mary Ellen was raised by her mother and loving step-father John Stearns Bleecker of Bleecker Hall, Virginia Avenue, West Chester, Pennsylvania. Mrs. Snyder lived all her life in Delaware and Chester counties. She graduated from West Chester Friends School in 1934 and West Chester High School in 1938.   She attended Randolph Macon Women's College for two years before transferring to the Illman Carter Unit of The University of Pennsylvania where she helped to found the first sorority on the Ivy League campus. She received a degree in education in 1942. She married John Chaplin Snyder of Narberth, Pennsylvania in 1943.  Together they restored a farmhouse in Darling, Pennsylvania with a cornerstone marked 17XX, and shared a lifetime of hobbies and civic engagement that focused on service to public education, the environment and greenspace, community theatre and the many activities of their children such as Girls Scouts, Little League and PTA.    Mary Ellen and the children worked numerous election campaigns to support John Snyder in his 12 years of service on the Rose Tree School Board and later on the Pennsylvania School Board where he served as president and was the primary architect of Act 96, which changed the formula for state school district subsidies.  She also supported John's successful efforts to preserve Tyler Arboretum in Media. Together she and John were helpful in keeping the Darling Post Office in business in the mid-sixties.  The smallest United States post office with a lobby was famed for the flood of mail received each Valentine  Day that was lovingly hand cancelled by postmistress Mary Ellen with a large red Darling stamp. Mary Ellen was an innovative, admired and respected elementary school teacher in the Rose Tree School District for more than 25 years starting in 1966, primarily at Glenwood Elementary School where she taught 5-6 grade. She pioneered the use of computers in her classrooms and was active in the National Education Association. Mary Ellen and John shared a keen love of travel primarily on road trips to national parks throughout the United States and Canada.  They visited every state in the Union except Hawaii.  Following John's death in 1990, Mary Ellen continued her sometimes quirky adventures worldwide, often with grandchildren in tow.  At 70+, she loved to travel to then non-traditional places such as Antarctica, Falkland Islands, Alaska, Iceland, the Saint Laurence Seaway, the fiords of Norway, and Greece. Her adventurous spirit was born of her remarkable solo cross-country railway trip with her doll as her companion from Philadelphia to California at the age of six.  Her newly remarried mother Rebecca sent her to live with her Aunt Polly and Uncle Will Comstock in Hollywood for two years until the Hall and Bleecker families successfully merged. From the porters, conductors and engineers who watched over her along the way, she learned many lessons about the kindness of strangers.  Her rewards for this great adventure: meeting Charlie Chaplin, having Harpo Marx entertain at her birthday parties, and returning to Philadelphia by ship through the Panama Canal. She had a lifelong love of dogs and cats, gardening, the Philadelphia Flower Show, birdwatching, primitive camping, bridge, education and most importantly, her large family. Mary Ellen was a wonderful mother who set an extraordinary example of selflessness, kindness, tolerance, inclusion, determination, love of learning, dedication to all things living, civic responsibility and service to the betterment of community and humankind. She is preceded in death by her husband of forty-seven years John Chaplin Snyder, infant daughter Barbara Ann, grandson Michael Scott Malone and grandson-in-law Timothy Rion Wade.  She was the last surviving matriarch of a large extended family that included her three Hall brothers, John Handy Hall, M.D., William Thomas Hall, M.D. and Nathan Bryant Hall; her five Bleecker step-siblings, John Stearns Bleecker, Jr., Mary Webb Bleecker Parke, Richard Waymouth Bleecker, Nell Bleecker Butler Darlington and Kate Robinson Bleecker Parks Livingston; and her husband John's seven siblings, Eleanor Jeanette Snyder, Frances Elizabeth Snyder Holberton, Marion Bishop Snyder Stierwalt, Charles Morrow Snyder, Dorothy Sue Snyder Bristor, William Monroe Snyder, and Robert Lincoln Snyder. She is survived by six children and their families:  daughter Mary Elizabeth Snyder Malone and husband Bruce of Austin, Texas, and their daughters Ellen Malone Hourigan and husband James of Sydney, Australia, and Kathryn Malone Weiss and husband Nicholas of Beverly Hills, California; son John Charles Snyder and wife Fay of Malvern, Pennsylvania, and their children Jonathan Charles Snyder and wife Wendy of Brownington, Vermont, and Emily Ann Snyder Ferrell and husband Richard of Wilmington, Delaware; son William Thomas Snyder and former wife Tereza and son Joshua Thomas Snyder and wife Katherine of Madison, Wisconsin, and William's wife Carol of Dallas, Texas, and daughters Ashleigh Boerder Snyder Powell and husband Bennett of Austin, Texas, Lacey Boerder Snyder de Gras and husband Javier of Grapevine, Texas, and Cathryn Boerder Snyder and husband David Gimnich of Austin, Texas; daughter Susan Ellen Snyder Budischak and husband Stephen of Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, and their daughters Sarah Ashcom Budischak and husband Ross Pringle of Princeton, New Jersey, and Adrian Leigh Budischak and husband Pauly Rodney of New York, New York; daughter Marjorie Jane Snyder Brown of Dallas, Texas, and her children Hannah Hall Brown of Berkeley, California, Nathaniel Chaplin Brown of New York, New York, Elisabeth Cleary Brown of Austin, Texas, Andrew Wells Brown of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Abigail Ashcom Brown of Austin, Texas; and son Robert Nathan Snyder and wife Diane of State College, Pennsylvania, and their son Andrew Childs Snyder of State College, Pennsylvania.  Her ten great grandchildren are Annabel Elizabeth Hourigan, Charlotte Ellen Hourigan and Charles James Michael Hourigan of Sydney, Australia; Samuel Moses Weiss and Phoebe Margaret Weiss of Beverly Hills, California; Chloe Frances Snyder of Brownington, Vermont; Maxwell Reins Ferrell and Anna Chaplin Ferrell of Wilmington, Delaware; Xander William Powell of Austin, Texas; and Nicolas Javier Gras of Grapevine, Texas. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Tyler Arboretum, 515 Painter Road, Media, Pennsylvania 19063, www.tylerarboretum.org or to a charity of your choice. A celebration of the life of Mary Ellen Hall Snyder will be held on Saturday, June 25 at 1:30 pm at White Horse Village, 535 Gradyville Road, Newtown Square, Pennsylvania 19063. Mary Ellen Hall Snyder resided at White Horse Village since 1990. The family wishes to extend their gratitude and appreciation to the residents and staff of White Horse Village for providing a wonderful home community for Mary Ellen for more than 25 years.   Arranagements: Rigby Harting & Hagan Funeral Home Media, PA  www.haganfuneralhome.com