Jane S. Snyder Parker

Jane is survived by her daughters, Bonnie Bartman of Houston, TX. Anne Marie Olivola (Tom), of Carmel Valley, CA., and Elizabeth Moore (Joe) of Coppell, TX.; her sons, J. Robert Parker Jr., (Ann) of Spring, TX., and D. Lane Parker (Joyce) of Modesto, CA.; 8 grandchildren and 4 great grandchildren. In addition to her parents and husband, she was preceded in death by a half-brother.

Mary Jane Snyder was born in Washington DC on January 2, 1922 to Maude Oxley and Clarence Lane Snyder.

Jane was a 1940 graduate from Roosevelt High School then attended George Washington University.

She met Joseph on a blind date arranged by friends. While Joseph was serving overseas in the Marine Corp during WWII they continued their courtship through letter writing for 2 years. During this time Jane also served her country working as an analyst in the OSS planning the invasion of Japan. They were married on May 2, 1945 while Joseph was home on leave. As fate would have it, the war ended while on their honeymoon.

While raising her 5 children, Jane finished her education at California State University Northridge where she earned a BA in education followed by an MA in Special Education at San Jose State University.

Jane was an accomplished teacher in the California Education system for more than 20 years. Additionally, she was a pioneer in creating education teaching systems for adolescent autistic children.

After retiring from teaching, Jane became a retirement entrepreneur founding her company, Retirement Explorations. She developed an inventory style self education program for people to assess their retirement goals so they may have a full and complete vision of their retirement beyond the financial aspect. She also coauthored Adventures Abroad. 1991.

Jane was an extraordinary woman who had a never ending curiosity about life and an adventurous spirit. She was a pioneer conservationist before it was fashionable; she loved nature, hiking, camping, backpacking and bird watching. She and Joe loved to travel which led them to travel (and sometimes live) extensively throughout North, Central and South America, Africa, Greece, the Middle East and Europe writing wonderful journals of their adventures.

She had a love of music ranging from classical to folk. She performed as a vocalist as well a pianist. She loved all aspects of dance from ballet, square dance, ballroom to tribal.

We were blessed with a wonderful Mother. She taught us so much by example. She taught us how to live life to its fullest, she taught us how to embrace diversity in ourselves and in others, she taught us how to be strong and how to be tender, she taught us an appreciation for the finer aspects of what the world has to offer, love of literature, fine art, the joy of music and dance…the fulfillment nature bestows in the awesome qualities of a tiny wildflower or a mighty sequoia tree…to look up and be filled with wonder by the birds in the sky. these are the treasures which she endowed our lives with. Most of all she loved us, her grandchildren and her great-grandchildren unconditionally every day of our lives and we love her. It is impossible for each of us to think about life without Mom.

The family would like to extend an invitation for all those who would like to celebrate the life of our parents to a Funeral Mass followed by a memorial reception at Christ the Good Shepherd Catholic Community, 18511 Klein Church Rd., Spring, Texas on Friday, October 22, 2010 at 11:00am. If you would like more information please contact any of the family or leave contact information in either mom or dads guest book on this site.