Howard W. Snyder

Howard W. Snyder was a man who dedicated his whole life to serving others.

He was born in Elkhart, Indiana on October 7, 1930. Living across from a lake developed his lifelong love of boating, camping and the outdoors. One of his other loves was golf. His father owned an iron foundry in Elkhart so he spent his high school years working part time at the foundry. When it came time for college he went to Cal Tech for an engineering degree. After one year, realizing he did not want to work with his father and take over the foundry, he switched to Northwestern in Chicago and received a business degree. After college he received a management job offer at Bendix in Kansas City. That is where he met his wife, Lou Ann Baker. They married and had three kids, Jeffrey Allen Snyder, Nancy Lou Snyder (Kupzyk) and Howard David Snyder. Howard wanted to be his own boss. Howard and Lou saved their money and bought up rental property. After a few years Howard was able to leave Bendix and live off of the Rental Business they had built. At 40 he decided to expand to a new business and took courses in real estate appraising. They kept rental properties up into their 60’s and Howard retired from real estate appraising at age 75.

Partners in everything, because of the two successful businesses they built it allowed Howard and Lou the flexibility and time to pursue the volunteer work they were both passionate about. When Howard’s sons were young he was involved in Boy Scouts and went twice to Philmont and once canoeing in Canada with the troop. He also belonged to Sertoma, where one of his activities was working with prisoners up in Lansing Prison. Both Howard and Lou were interested in traveling, other cultures and foreign people. Early on the joined People to People, and the Japan America Society. By the time the kids were starting High School they became involved with a Central American exchange program called Intercambio. They helped place exchange students from Central America in the Kansas City Area. They also hosted a number of students in their home at that time. Nancy went to Mexico City, Jeff went to Japan and Howie and Nancy both went with People to People tours of Europe. Howard also spent a number of years working through People to People sponsoring officers and their family’s coming to Fort Leavenworth from other countries for Command College. By the time Howard and Lou stopped traveling they had visited 59 different countries.

His true life’s work began when his son Howie developed Mental Health issues in College. At the time there were very few resources for family members. They helped set up a family support group in Johnson County that in some form is still going today. Realizing laws needed to be changed he started advocating in Topeka. He was on two different Governor’s Task forces for Mental Health. Howard and Lou were asked to help set up family support groups. They set up over twenty different support groups all over the state of Kansas. One thing they also realized was the need for social outlets for people dealing with mental illness. Early on they helped start a drop in center where clients could socialize and also receive food and services in Merriam, Kansas. It was called The In Place. The building is no longer there but the social work is still being carried on now by Families for Mental Health. When Howie passed away 20 years ago they continued their work. Howard spent 25 years on the board of Johnson County Mental Health and Lou spent 15 years on the board of Osawatomie. Howard also helped start CIT (Critical Intervention Training) training for first responders in Johnson County, and then went on to help train all over the state of Kansas. He finally stopped at the age of 93 when he couldn’t travel anymore. His 50 years of volunteer work in the mental health field has made a difference for thousands of people in our state. Howard has always called it his son Howie’s legacy.

He leaves behind his son Jeff Snyder, daughter Nancy Kupzyk and Son-in-Law Rick Kupzyk. Grandson Jason Kupzyk and his wife Kara. Grandson Matt Kupzyk. Also, four Great-granddaughter’s Kate Kupzyk, Chole Kupzyk, Tilly Kupzyk and Paige Gilligan. He had a life well lived, but he will be missed.

Contributions / Donations in honor of Howard can be made to Friends of Johnson County Mental Health Center to support efforts such as Co-Responders, Crisis Intervention Teams (CIT) and The In Place (Families for Mental Health).

Please make checks payable to “Friends of Johnson County Mental Health Center” and mail it to:

Johnson County Mental Health Center

6000 Lamar Avenue, Suite 130

Mission, KS 66202

Donations can also be made on-line at the link below:

https://friendsofjcmhc.org/donate/