Frank's thoughts of yesterday

My brother John Edward Snapp died this morning, 8/29. He was in Boise for a reunion with his sister and brothers. While sitting at the breakfast table, he simply slumped over and despite heroic attempts from family and rescuers he was not able to be revived. He will be returned to Missouri for interment and as soon as details are available they will be posted. A special thanks to the Ada county sheriff deputies, the fire department, paramedics and the coroners office for their efficient, professional, and empathetic service to our family during this shocking moment.

John

My brother, Frank, had the thought that while I was visiting in Boise, that he should see if he could get John and MaryAnn to come out, too, so that we could all be together.  The last time was 16 years ago at my Mother's funeral.

John flew in to Boise Monday, August 27th.  We picked him up about 12:38.  It was so good to see him again.  He stayed at Ann's house, too, so we had some nice visits.  We would sit around the table and laugh as we reminisced about the past.

On the morning of the 29th, John and I got up at around the same time.  He started a load of wash and then we sat at the kitchen table talking.  After a short time, Lynn came and joined us at the table, too. We were just having a nice chat.  All of a sudden it looked as if John was reaching down to pick something up, but it became evident that he was falling.  We couldn't reach him fast enough to stop him from hitting the floor.  He was not responsive.

Lynn called 911 and then started chest compressions while the emergency worker were on their way.  I was so amazed watching them take over and try hard to see if they could save John.  They worked at least an hour.  They were so kind and respectful.  We had fire fighters and paramedics there.  One of the paramedics came into the room where we were and kept us updated on what they were trying and what was happening.  One of the members of Ann's elder's quorum came to be with us, as well.  He was so helpful.  If we mentioned anything at all, he quickly accomplished it.  He was such a blessing to have there.

They finally had to call his death, but honestly I think he died immediately. Because it was an unattended death, the police and coroner had to be called.  They, too, were amazing.  We unfortunately couldn't answer all of the questions, but seemed to understand that and again were kind to us.  The coroner was also kind and especially respectful.

Since John was out of his home state, that complicated the process some.  His dr in Missouri had to sign his death certificate or John would have to have an autopsy.  There was a hold up on making this happen, but in the end the dr did sign off.

We used Zeyer Funeral home of Nampa.  The funeral director had been Aunt Florence's bishop.  Mom had been here and Florence's funeral had taken place here, too.  They were so helpful.
Since we were sending John back to Missouri, there were many extra things that had to be arranged.  They worked hard at getting things done.

We had another bump to slow things down.  This was a holiday weekend and we needed permissions that took longer because of the holiday.  Everything worked out in the end.  We know that all these were blessings.  Everything worked together as it needed to be.

Thankful

We went to a special RS Retreat and I made this there.

Meridian Idaho Temple

I hadn't seen the Meridian Temple yet.  Dean drove me by there.  It looked a lot bigger than I thought from looking at pictures.

Vacation

I drove up to Boise to visit with family.  It is a little over an 8 hour drive.  It has been about 6 years since I have been here.  The last time was Aunt Florence's funeral.  I have to admit that it is a little difficult knowing that she isn't there and that her house is no longer belonging to the family.

I am staying with Lynn & Ann.  They are both so sweet and I love them so much.

A nice thing is that I am able to go and not worry about a certain day to be home.  Being retired has an advantage to it!

Hail storm

We had an unbelievable hail storm today.  Look at this particular one.

Dentist

Rather than the first day school activities, I got to spend the morning in the dentist chair. Yippee! I can cross root canal off of my to do list. I am glad that it is completed.
Before going into the dental offices, I ran into a former care giver of mine. She wanted to know why I was not in school. She was very surprised when I told her that I was retired. Sweetly she told me that she had forgotten and that I didn't look 62. It made my day!

Back to School

It is time for school to begin again.  I have to admit that it feels odd not to be joining everyone.  I loved my job and there are many things that I will miss.  Good luck to everyone as you go back to school.

Pictures from 1976-77

Here we are from long ago.  Joy wasn't with us she was home this year.

College Reunion 1976-1977

Sunday morning we found a church and went to Sacrament meeting, took Marianne to her sister's as she was flying home that evening, and drove to Sandra's home.  We caught up on each other's lives and ate a dinner.  It was wonderful!

Pictures from 1975-76

Here we are when we were roommates long ago.

College Year 1975-76 Roommate Reunion

We have talked about getting together many times over the last decade, but it never happened. We decided to actually follow through and plan this!  Janet was coming to Education Week at BYU.  Janice would be in Provo for a family wedding so a date was chosen.

Janice is on her way to Provo.  She is about to board a plane to bring her to Utah!

Saturday night four of us met in Provo: Springhill Suites.  Janice had decorated the room.  There was a sign on the outside of the door announcing that this was the place for the Roommate Reunion.  It kept falling off the door and I didn't get a photo.

Even the mirror in one of the bathrooms was decorated.  You can't see it but there was peach border around the outside of the mirror!

She had little gift bags awaiting and a bottle of water awaiting us.  The gift bag had peach lotion, peach sanitizer, peach shower gel and fingernail polish.  It was so cute.

After everyone arrived to decided to go to Brick Oven, formally known as Heaps of Pizza, for dinner.

Here we are!

Catching up on Marianne's life.

We decided to go up on campus to where our dorm, Snow Hall of Heritage Halls, once was.  They have torn it down and rebuilt all of Heritage Halls.  Where our dorm was is a parking lot!

The new Heritage Halls - look at those beautiful windows!

We talked someone in to showing us the inside of the rooms.

Each room has two bathrooms and a sink area in between in the hallway.

I didn't get a picture of the bedrooms.  They have nice desks which we didn't have.  Again, there are huge windows.

Here is a link to see the other rooms.

https://www.byu.edu/oncampushousing/heritage_halls.shtml

This is an activity room on one of the floors.  We saw another floor had one, too!

We walked past this to get to school every day.  It was behind our apartment complex.

Across the parking lot of our dorm was a little grocery store.  We didn't have cars so we spent a lot of time at Carson's Market.  It is now a BYU Creamery Outlet!

There is still a grocery store inside.

We went back to the hotel.  I bought an Oreo cake for Janice's birthday.  The chocolate was for a game we played.

Scenes from the evening:

 Janice's gift to each of us.

Dino memories

Seeing the new dinosaur at Swasey's Other Place brings up such fond memories for me of when I was a kid.

Bliss, Idaho had dinosaurs at their gas station or outside of a cafe - somewhere there in town. We would pass through there whenever we were coming and going from Boise. I looked forward to stopping there on every trip. It was one of my most favorite spots. Hot or cold, I would still have to climb up on the dinos!

I hope this new dinosaur at the Other Place will bring kids the joy and excitement that the Bliss dinos did for me.

Here I am with my brother, John.

That is my brother Frank looking on.

Here I am with my brother Dean and my Mom.