Obituary of Eileen Snodgrass

Eileen Snodgrass Obituary

Eileen was born in Minneapolis on August 14, 1928 to Carl and Anna Matson. Her father Carl immigrated to the US from Sweden in 1911 after serving in the Swedish Army Ski Patrol. She was their third child and nine years separated her from her younger brother Ken and she was eleven years younger than her oldest brother Lawrence. She excelled at school and skipped two grades before she graduated at seventeen and starting her career as a legal secretary. While she was growing up, she found her talent of singing. She started singing at weddings and funerals at the age of fourteen. Eileen paid for voice lessons with money she earned at work and won the talent contest “Stairway to the Stars” in Minneapolis as a young wife. Eileen met her future husband Wes at a Youth Group hayride in 1943. They dated off and on until Wes returned from service in WWII and they married in 1947. After college, Wes went into the home building business with his father and brother in Minneapolis while Eileen raised their three children Lynda, Wayne and David. Wes decided to enter the ministry and enrolled in Dubuque seminary in 1958. For three years the family of five lived in three rooms and moved to Wisconsin in the summers to run a church camp. Eileen never viewed this meager time as a hardship and made those years a fond memory for her family. After seminary, Wes and Eileen started a new church development in the Omaha area. They also served churches in Muscatine and Des Moines Iowa.  Eileen’s husband Wes passed away in 1989 and Eileen moved to their vacation home on Table Rock Lake that they built in the Ozark’s with the help of their sons. Eileen met her next husband Earl Schulz while living in Shell Knob Missouri. Earl passed away in 1998 after ten years of loving marriage. Eileen moved to Boise in 2016 and became a resident at Morning Star Senior Living. She passed away at Morning Star on November 2, 2021. Our family would like to thank the staff of Morning Star for the love they showed Eileen. We also are so grateful for the staff at St. Luke’s hospital for the care that they gave Eileen while she battled Covid and the loving care that she received from Idaho Home Health & Hospice while she approached her death.  Eileen was also preceded in death by her son David in 2015.

Eileen is survived by her daughter, Lynda (Jeff) Mullin of Colfax CA, her son Wayne (Lisa) Snodgrass of Boise ID, daughter in law Lyda Snodgrass of Lincoln NE, her five granddaughters Danielle Strand of Colfax CA, Nikki Baker and Kayla Kirk of Boise ID, Emily Sheldon and Mary Mendoza of Lincoln NE and her 12 great grandchildren. She is also survived by her sister in law Retha Matson of Los Angles CA.

Eileen lead a life of faith and service to the church and served as both an Elder and Deacon in various Presbyterian churches. She was known for her kindness, her smile and her willingness to listen to others with their joys and concerns. This was demonstrated when Eileen drove 400 miles at the age of 85 and lived in a hotel for 4 months so she could be available to drive her son David to radiation treatments while he battled brain cancer. She lived a full life and we are grateful that she is now with the Lord.

A graveside service in Boise ID is planned for May 7, 2022 at Morris Hill cemetery with time to be determined. A second graveside service will be conducted at Wyuka cemetery in Lincoln Nebraska at the gravesite of Eileen’s husband Wes. This service will be in the fall of 2022 with the date and time to be determined.

In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to your favorite charity in her name.