The eternal glorious soul of Mary Scott “Scottie” Sneckenberger, loved child of God, departed its earthly journey on Oct. 21, 2021, at her home in The Village at Heritage Point in Morgantown.
Scottie was almost born a mountaineer in Keyser, where her parents, Dorothy (Stouffer) and Samuel Hansbrough, lived. Scottie was born June 8, 1942, in her parent’s home town of Winchester, Va. She enjoyed her nickname, Scottie, which is based on the family name, Scott, that was also part of her father’s name. She was rooted with many dear family connections to the warm southern culture in Winchester, Va. Scottie grew up in a family devoted home with her parents and three siblings in Hagerstown, Md. There she attended Trinity Lutheran Church and graduated from North Hagerstown High School in 1960.
A most rewarding career for Scottie began when she earned a bachelor’s degree with honors in Spanish from Hood College in Frederick, Md. in 1964. She first taught Spanish for one year at Sligo Junior High in Silver Springs, Md. Scottie then came to live in Morgantown in 1965, where she earned a master’s degree in French at West Virginia University. Scottie’s impressive academic life included the devoted teaching of life and languages to students in junior high school (Suncrest Junior High), in high school (Morgantown High) and in college (Fairmont State and West Virginia University).
Wedding bells rang out for Scottie when she married John Edward “Ed” Sneckenberger from Greencastle, Pa. in 1968 in her home church in Hagerstown, Md. The family roots for Scottie and Ed were both from the Cumberland Valley: Greencastle, Pa. to Winchester, Va. But Morgantown provided Scottie a mountaineer home where she and Ed, a professor at WVU, would raise three loving daughters, Debbie, Julie and Sharon, to appreciate the Christian faith, family joys and community life. These successful young women and their families would be the pride and joy of Scottie’s life. And these family years in Morgantown, with Scottie’s loving exposures, such as music and the arts, and her daughters’ rejoinders, such as creative Christmas “recipes,” were a home base for Scottie’s loving care and sincere service for others.
Scottie cared for her family and friends during her life. Back in her Cumberland Valley home, she had provided faith-filled care for family, such as her older grandmother and her younger sister. Here in her Mountain State home, Scottie provided uplifting care for friends, such as the good neighbors on Woodhaven Drive and the special daughters of her child doctor and her foreign friend. She very much enjoyed raising admired flower gardens and participating with friends in church women prayer/craft activities and in life-long learning programs.
Scottie also did services for others through her social and career outreach. As a resident in her Suncrest home community, she promoted a sidewalk for neighborhood children to walk to school, served on the City Traffic Committee to provide safer streets, participated in the advocacy team for the Habitat for Humanity Organization and contributed to the interviewer and delivery functions of the Meals on Wheels Program. As an educator in her academic world, she caringly taught foreign languages to school and college students as well as the English language and culture to international students. She also purposely instructed her personal Christian Faith to students, adults and confirmands at Saint Paul Lutheran Church and Suncrest United Methodist Church.
Scottie had a childhood desire to explore the world. She was able, as a mother, to show her daughters much of the United States through family trips (e.g., Rocky Mountains and New England) and sibling gatherings (e.g., Old Home Week, Nashville and Gatlinburg) as well as through planned trips to Mexico, Canada, England and Europe. She was also able to serve as a valued participant/translator on mission giving trips with Ed to Guatemala (Spanish) and to Vietnam (French). Scottie valued her experiences on special travel trips with Ed to Poland, China, Russia, Africa and South America. She enjoyed planned journeys with Ed through academic affiliations to visit the wonders of Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Jordan, Israel and Panama and through family interests to go on cruises with siblings in the Caribbean and to Alaska.
Scottie’s life journey will be long cherished by her husband, Ed, and her daughters and families: Debbie and her husband, Juan-Carlos Maymir and their children, Isabel and Benjamin, in Minnesota, Julie and her husband Michael Kechisen and their daughter Allison, in Ohio, and Sharon and her husband, Jacob Tonski and their children Geneva and Sebastian, in California; her brother, James Hansbrough and his wife, Becky, in Colorado; and her sisters-in-law, Connie Ryder in Texas, May Moore in North Carolina, and Mary Jon Sneckenberger, in Alabama. Scottie is also survived by her caring cousins (e.g., the Purvis clan), by her nieces and nephews as well as by her many friends gained through her life journey. Scottie was preceded in death by her parents and by her sisters Susan Hansbrough and Helen Hansbrough.
Sincere thanks to her recent families at Amedisys for their hospice care, to WVU Medicine for their home health and hospice care and a special thanks to Laura Poe for her personal care that enabled Scottie to much better enjoy special times with warm humor and a shared Christian love.
Friends and family will be received at Suncrest United Methodist Church, from 2 p.m. until the time of the service at 4 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 24, with Pastor Mike Estep officiating. To conclude the evening services, there will be a dove release service hosted by Larry Cooper. In accordance with her wishes, Hastings Funeral Home will then provide cremation services.
Note 1: Witness titled “Beyond Beauty: Cherishing the Life of Scottie Sneckenberger” will be included in the Methodist Church Service “A Service Celebrating God’s Gift of Life for Mary Scott Sneckenberger.”
Note 2: In lieu of flowers, you may make donations in Scottie’s name, to the Suncrest United Methodist Church/Women, 479 Van Voorhis Road, Morgantown, WV, 26505.
Condolences:
www.hastingsfuneralhome.com
