Cecil Kane Snyder Jr.

Cecil K. Snyder Jr. (“Cec”) died peacefully in his sleep May 12, 2025 in Riverside, California. He was 98 years old. He had struggled with dementia in his last decade. Cecil will join his beloved wife Joyce (who died two years earlier), at the Riverside National Cemetery. They are survived by their son Cecil Snyder III, daughters Justine Schmidt and Arden Williams, four grandchildren (Julian, Johnny, Trinity and Anna), and four great-grandchildren (Amelia, Owen, Lyla and Logan).

Cecil was born at home in 1927 and grew up in the small picturesque town of Tyrone, Pennsylvania, in its heyday. Following his brother Denis, Cecil was the second son of Florence (“Po”) and Cecil Sr. (“Pappy”), a Tyrone paper mill pipefitter. Cecil’s best friend Mark Givler was also born at home, one day later and one block apart; he and Cecil both became English Literature professors and remained life-long friends. Cecil had a close-knit circle of friends who explored their lives with youthful vigor. If it were not for Cecil’s passion for books and music, his unsupervised youth and energy may have gotten the better of him. But Cecil excelled in school and never lost his curiosity for life outside of Tyrone’s constrained borders. He was intrigued by Flash Gordon, Dashiell Hammett, Rudyard Kipling and Jack London, as well as ancient civilizations such as Mesopotamia. He also loved a wide array of music from Handel to Dave Brubeck. Cecil taught himself to play the piano by ear and became part of a local quartet at the Elks Club.

In 1945 Cecil graduated from Tyrone High School cum laude, joined the Army and was stationed in Germany for two years. While in Baden Baden, Cecil learned to speak German, had a stimulating office job due to his excellent typing skills, became a Sergeant, and visited Paris. He could load a rifle in record time, but since the war was ending, he was not subject to combat. For a small town boy at 19 years old, WWII turned out to be among the most eye-opening years of Cecil’s life, stirring his curiosity further.

Upon returning to Tyrone in 1947, Cecil married his beautiful high school sweetheart, Joyce Hildebrand, with whom he had a son, Cecil III. Within another few years, Cecil and Joyce added two daughters, Arden and Justine, to their family unit. While supporting his family as an insurance adjuster and then a high school teacher, Cecil was determined to continue his education and went to college on the G.I. Bill. He moved his family to California in 1956, but returned to Penn State University periodically to finish his Masters and PhD. Cecil and family traveled cross-country most summers to visit relatives in Tyrone and the family cottage in pastoral Blacklog Valley, always tied to their Pennsylvania roots.

After some years of peripatetic living, Cecil and Joyce bought their final home above UC Riverside in 1965. They settled down to raise their family and pets, cultivate a garden, citrus trees and an extensive library, living there for 56 years until 2021. They rescued and cared for countless pets during their lifetime, instilling the same values in their children. Education, good health, recreation and sunshine were central to their lives. Before retirement, Cecil and Joyce were both teachers. Joyce taught elementary school for over 30 years, while Cecil taught English Literature at UCLA, UCR and Cal Poly. Cecil continued to write, and in 1970 won the Silver Spur Award for his western novel Big With Vengeance.

Cecil was a humorful and brilliant man with an encyclopedic mind. He was a passionate reader, writer and historian who had traveled within much of the United States, India and Europe. He was an ardent Anglophile who honored the British afternoon tea hour and knew London, its writers and historians intimately. He aligned himself with non-conformist, intellectual writers and explorers such as Sir Richard Francis Burton, Algernon Charles Swinburne and the Bloomsbury Group. Contradictory to his unsentimental and practical nature, he had an infinity for 19th century Romantic poets. He was also a fan of novelist Vladimir Nabokov and the 1950s American beat writers, always gravitating towards those who questioned the status quo, both intellectually and socially. Cecil held a lifelong devotion to ideas, words, family, animals, and the natural world.

Cecil’s Interment will be held on June 27, 2025 at the Riverside National Cemetery.

Donations/Tributes: Tyrone Snyder Public Library http://tyronelibrary.org

Online condolences may be offered at https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/riverside-ca/cecil-snyder-12377718