Priscilla Marie Snyder

Priscilla Marie Snyder, 87, of Stevensville, suffered a stroke and passed away suddenly on Friday, November 6, 2020 at Spectrum Health Butterworth Hospital, Grand Rapids. Services will be held privately for the family with a celebration of life to be scheduled next summer. Burial will take place at Hickory Bluff Cemetery, Stevensville. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be given to Monday Musical, Inc., c/o Elizabeth Wooley, 4270 Hollywood Rd., St. Joseph, MI 49085. Priscilla was born February 2, 1933 in South Bend, IN to Clifton and Hildegarde (Mrozinski) Gilbert. Pat (Perci) was born into a musical family and at age 3 she had her first performance singing “Girl of My Dreams”, “Jesus Loves Me”, and “Red Sails in the Sunset” at the church where her dad was the choir director. Her love of performance threaded throughout her life. She cheered for the St. Joe Bears, and as a drum major, marched many miles in various parades around Michigan and surrounding states for the American Legion. She was a finalist of the Horace Heidt Amateur Hour talent show, performed at the Tropic Room at the Whitcomb Hotel, performed in local follies and music productions, Christmas Vespers, and sung in church choirs. Her belief that “Music is a universal language” which no matter who you were or where you came from, you would be able to share a common ground. She was a member of Monday Musical for more than 55 years serving as a board member and program director, sourcing talent for the programs, and always organizing a great dinner event. She enjoyed various music: Big Band, Burt Bacharach, Herb Alpert, Chicago, and Earth, Wind, and Fire's September which was one of her favorite songs. The room lit up when she came in as you always knew that there was a funny story, joke, or awesome event. Her love of family, life and hijinks was reflected in the many fun stories that were shared. As a young adult, she would take a train to visit her brother, Lew at Augustana College in Rock Island Il toting many pizzas from Capozio’s. This is where she met her best buddy Darlene (Lew’s wife) and ensued making many memories. She was caring, kind, genuine and put the “great” into great-gramma not forgetting birthdays and special events. She had an uncanny way of knowing what was troubling you without a word. Of course, she was great at wiggling out information! She loved a good ‘debate’ and enjoyed stirring up conversation with friends and strangers alike. One of her stories involved eating potato chips to help her “grease her joints”. In recent years, she looked forward to wintering in Island Echoes in Florida where she met so many wonderful friends, exercising her gift of being a social butterfly. She was a patriot, loving her country and her fellow man more. It was important for her to keep current in her fashion including matching glasses, new trends and technology. The AT&T store and her grandkids were her go to on technology advice so that she could keep learning. She loved shopping as her “therapy”. She worked at Whirlpool where she met her husband Vern, a dashing, young engineer; whom she married on August 29th, 1959 and celebrated their 61st wedding anniversary. Pat has made an indelible mark on many lives and her legacy is living on through her family and friends in many lovely, happy memories. Priscilla is survived by her husband, Francis “Vern” Snyder; her daughters, Julie Snyder, Linda (Mark Walker) Krager-Walker, and Sue (David) Richardson; her grandchildren Melissa Chesney (Matthew), Aaron Krager (Keri), Scarlett (Lauren) Morgan, Steven Walker; her great grandchildren Jewel Bounauito, the Chesney’s: TJ, Brandon, Bradley, Nolan, and Sara; sisters in love, Darlene (Lew) Gilbert, and Marville (Ron) Gilbert, and many nieces, nephews, great nephews and nieces; and of course Daisy their loving puppy companion. She is preceded in death by her parents and her brothers Lew and Ron Gilbert. The Gilbert family is singing in the eternal choir together again!