Fran Snyder

Frances Nelson Snyder

Frances was born April 27, 1922 to Nels and Elsie (Blaznik) Nelson on the family farm eight miles north of Gordon, Nebraska. Fran was the fifth of seven children, three brothers and three sisters. She spent eight years in the Fieldside Country School located on the Nelson family farm. Fran attended Gordon High School for two years before leaving to take a job. Attending high school was difficult due to hard times.

On May 26, 1940 she was united in marriage to LR (Rennard) Snyder in Crawford, Nebraska. While living in Chadron she was employed part time in the Gamble Store as well as a rural route mail carrier. In 1942 they moved to Omaha where she was employed by the Omar Bakery on a delivery route which she loved. When the service men returned from WWII to resume their jobs, she was laid off. A short time later she began a job at the Country Club Grocery Store in the Dundee area of Omaha. She continued working at the grocery store, advancing to assistant manager. She was employed at the store for over thirty-eight years. On Easter Sunday, May 13, 1977, an electrical fire closed the store and it never reopened.

In 1979 Fran returned to Gordon to be near family. She soon found employment at Ideal Market in 1981 working as the produce manager until her retirement in 2002 at the age of 80. Fran enjoyed working with produce, but especially enjoyed visiting with customers as they came through the store.

Fran said she never had a job she didn’t like. She enjoyed working but also bowling and fishing. She received the Good Neighbor Award from the Gordon Chamber of Commerce.

She was preceded in death by her husband Rennard Snyder, her parents Nels and Elsie Nelson, two brothers Elwood and Archie Nelson, three sisters, Olga Nelson Taylor, Helen Nelson and Dorothy Nelson Hooper.

She is survived by her brother WR ‘Bub’ Nelson, sister-in-law Margaret Nelson, brother-in-law Ken Hooper and ten nieces and nephews and many friends.

Funeral services were held Saturday December 28, 2019, 10:30 AM at the Chamberlain-Pier Funeral Home, Gordon, NE.. In lieu of flowers the family suggests memorials to the Gordon Volunteer Fire Department or the Tri-State Cowboy Museum and donations may be sent in care of Chamberlain-Pier Funeral Home, PO Box 366, Gordon, NE 69343.