Wyoming Snipes Kashoff passed away two years ago, on February 22, 2003, at the extraordinary age of 38. At the end of his life a presence at Buckingham (Pa.) Meeting, Wyoming was previously associated with Falls (Pa.) Meeting, and appeared regularly for 20 years. Members of Falls will remember him as the light redhead who trotted in front of Sam Snipes’s carriage.
In addition to driving the Snipes family to meeting on Sundays, Wyoming traveled to Trenton every Saturday, often with members of the George School faculty. He participated in many local events, including Bristol Township’s 275th birthday parade and Newtown’s 200th bicentennial parade, with his daughter, Monday. Generations of Young Friends rode on wagons and sleighs behind Wyoming when visiting the Snipes farm. Upon their maturity, many of them were then carried to their nuptials in his carriage. Wyoming was also an avid gardener and pulled a horse-drawn cultivator, as Sam assisted.
At the age of 22, Wyoming semiretired and came to live with the Kashoffs. There, Wyoming hung up his harness, but continued an active life, teaching Dave Kashoff to ride, and carrying another Young Friend, Dave’s daughter Meredith (Stern), over fences to win several blue ribbons. He enjoyed many trail rides through the woods and fields, and occasionally gave flying lessons—but only to the more confident riders.
There are many stories of Wyoming’s exploits—the time he jumped over the graveyard wall with carriage in tow (this one landed Sam in the hospital); the time he tried to squeeze through two police cars (the carriage didn’t make it); and how, at 34 years of age, he leapt over (and through) a three-rail fence to wander the neighborhood with his new female stablemate in hot pursuit. One of Sam’s fonder memories is of a high-spirited and thrilling race through the snow on a moonlit holiday eve with Wyoming and Monday, each hitched to their own sleigh.
Wyoming came to Quaker circles at the young age of one year, when James Brooks, a young man close to the Snipes family, brought him back from the State of Wyoming as a gift to Sam. James went on to a successful career of cowpunching and now teaches horsemanship to movie stars. His gift to Sam was a gift to Bucks Quarter Friends, and Wyoming will be remembered with great fondness by many.