Kermit Dean Snyder

Kermit Dean Snyder, 87, of Waco, passed to his heavenly home on his birthday, October 27, 2024. He will be cremated and laid to rest in Wortham Bend Cemetery, China Spring, Texas.

The youngest of five children, he was born October 27, 1937, in the Arnett community to Velma (White) and Cecil Lewis Snyder. He had many happy memories about growing up at the “old home place” before moving to Gatesville, Texas. He attended Gatesville High School and was a proud tuba player in the Hornet band. He met his future wife in high school, and she fondly recalls their first date to a GHS football game. Upon his father’s sudden death, Kermit left high school in 1955 to enlist in the U.S. Army in order to support his mother. He served in Korea, and upon his return to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, he married his high school sweetheart, Barbara Dean Wilkins, on August 17, 1957, in Gatesville at their pastor’s home.

Kermit took his role as his family’s provider seriously, and he was never without a job. He was a route salesman for Mrs. Baird’s Bread for 30 years in McGregor and the surrounding communities. Additionally, he was a certified electrician who worked evenings and weekends. After retirement, he continued to work various transportation jobs, including his last, and most favorite, as a school bus driver for special needs children in the Robinson school district. He volunteered in his community but found a special place in the wood shop at Habitat for Humanity.  He enjoyed conversation, and always had an encouraging word, a tease, or a joke to share with his family and many friends.

As empty nesters, he and Barbara enjoyed traveling with the Tejas Travelers, a local Good Sam chapter. As his family grew, he delighted in his three granddaughters and especially loved when they spent the night at TaTa and Papa’s house, playing dress-up, watching Disney movies, and eating his homemade popcorn. Later, he looked forward to regular family happy hours and dinners at local restaurants. He never missed an opportunity to spend time with his family. In the last few years, he made many new friends in the Brookdale Lake Brazos Assisted Living community, and he found new ways to serve the Lord by making and sharing his wood crafts, and most especially, his crosses.

He was preceded in death by his son, Terry Holland Snyder, and his son-in-law, David Lee Brown, in 2023.

He is survived by his wife of 67 years, Barbara; his daughter, Debra Deanice Brown of China Spring, TX; his son, Jody Wayne Snyder and his wife Debbie of China Spring, TX; three grandchildren and their spouses, Kerstin (Scott) Lyon of Spring, TX; Jessica (Garrett) Harley of Kansas City, MO; Samantha (Kendall) Orr of Waco, TX; step-granddaughter Adrienne (Randall) Patton of Whitney, TX; four great-grandchildren, and several nieces and nephews.

Memorials in Kermit’s memory may be made to the local Habitat for Humanity.