Jeanne Kallmeyer Snyder

Snyder—Jeanne Kallmeyer Snyder, 97, on April 6, 2023, in Louisville, Colo. Jeanne was born on March 31, 1926, in Cincinnati, Ohio, where she grew up. She received a bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of Cincinnati in 1948 and a master’s degree in social work from Columbia University’s School of Social Work in 1955. She married John P. Snyder in 1952 in Cincinnati, and the couple moved to Bloomfield, N.J., in 1953 and to Madison, N.J., in 1960. She was employed as a school social worker for 13 years in Summit, N.J., and Mount Olive Township, N.J.

After moving to Reston, Va., in 1980, she coordinated a Fairfax County Head Start vision screening project for the National Society to Prevent Blindness. From 1985 until her retirement in 1991, she was employed by Reston Interfaith, Inc., first as the nonprofit agency’s first social worker, and then as case management supervisor of the Embry Rucker Community Shelter for unhoused families and singles. She continued with the agency in a part-time role administering a revolving loan fund for shelter residents moving into housing until she and her husband moved away in 1992.

Jeanne came to Quakerism in the late 1950s, when she and her husband joined Montclair (N.J.) Meeting. They had been working on what was referred to then as “race relations” and found spiritual kin among Friends. Upon their move to Madison, they helped Friends transition from a worship group to what became Chatham–Summit Meeting. This began years of service in New York Yearly Meeting, and subsequently Baltimore Yearly Meeting after their move to Virginia. The Friends in Reston, in similar fashion, were meeting as a worship group. Jeanne and John assisted them to become Herndon (Va.) Meeting.

In 1983, Jeanne was deeply saddened by the loss of her daughter Barbara Ruth, who was killed at 26 years old by an unknown person.

When it was time, in 1992, Jeanne and John relocated to Friends House Retirement Community in Sandy Spring, Md. John died there in 1997. Subsequently Jeanne celebrated her love of fellow resident Larry Strong through a celebration of commitment at Sandy Spring Meeting in 2000. Following Larry’s passing in 2007, she moved to be near her daughter Lyn Mead in Boulder, Colo. Her meeting membership was last with Boulder Meeting.

Jeanne served on committees and boards of several Quaker organizations, including Sandy Spring Friends School, the Residents’ Association of Friends House Retirement Community, and various oversight committees. She continued to be a strong supporter of Friends Committee on National Legislation and American Friends Service Committee throughout her adult life. She was at various times a member of the boards of Planned Parenthood of Morris County, N.J.; the Northwest Center for Community Mental Health (Reston); Reston Interfaith; and Friends House. She also served as volunteer coordinator of the Community Clinic in Rockville, Md. She volunteered with Family Hospice after her move to Flatirons Terrace Senior Living in Boulder in 2008. “There is no need to travel,” Jeanne is quoted as saying—“in Boulder I’m on vacation all the time.”

Jeanne is remembered as a loving presence who was always interested in connecting with people. She was lucid and highly interested in life until the last few days prior to her peaceful passing.

Jeanne was predeceased by her partner, Lawrence Strong; her first husband, John P. Snyder; and a daughter, Barbara Ruth Snyder. She is survived by one daughter, Lyn Mead.