Florence "Flo" Ann (Vasileff) Snider

Born in the family home on SW Broadway in downtown Beaverton, she grew up with her sisters, Laurene (younger) and Dorothy (older), and mother Dena Vasileff Mayfield Claussen. Her father Stephen Vasileff died of stomach cancer when Flo was 6 or 7. Dena went to work at Meier and Frank department store in downtown Portland and left the girls to fend for themselves during the day.

School was a few short blocks across the railroad tracks which were often blocked by the timber filled rail cars. “I used to carry rocks in my pockets and told my sisters I would throw rocks [at the schoolyard bullies] until they got in the house.” You could count on her to stand up for her loved ones and speak up for herself.

During the Depression, she attended Beaverton High School and worked behind the counter at the Beaverton Pharmacy. A young man (Garnet, ten years her senior) met her there while working on a road crew that was passing though town. Dena, anxious to marry off her three daughters, invited Garnet home for dinner, much to my mother’s chagrin.

It is a challenge to condense 102 years of experience into a few words; a marriage, a war, three kids, a divorce, a working single mom raising her family in Beaverton in the late 1950s. She had a job as a bank teller, then as the secretary to the Superintendant of Beaverton School District. She found a passion, and met many lifelong friends, working at the Oregon Regional Primate Research Center in Aloha. While typing over 100 words per minute, she transcribed clinical research documents for a renowned clinical scientist and cardiologist, M. René Malinow, M.D. The staff at the ORPRC and their families where often used as subjects in many of the clinical trials as well as the monkeys, a practice that might be frowned upon today.

After retiring from the work force in 1983, she was a Toastmaster champion and a killer Scrabble player. Her loves included flowers, classical music and opera, world travel with her kids and grandkids, and a cup of tea. She attributed her prolific African Violets and Geraniums to talking to them regularly.

She was preceded in death by her son, Gerald Snider, and her granddaughter, Michelle Molyneux. She will be remembered by her sister, Laurene Coleman, her daughter, Lynn Clarke, her son, Tom Snider, her granddaughter, Patti Clarke, and her grandson, Oakes Snider.

A memorial service for Florence will be held Saturday, July 1, 2023 at 12:00 PM at Finley-Sunset Hills Mortuary, 6801 SW Sunset Hwy, Portland, OR 97225 in the Great Hall. A reception will follow.

In lieu of flowers, the family is requesting donations be made in Flo’s name to the Hope Foundation. The Hope Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, linked to Serenity Hospice, that helps meet the wishes of local hospice patients. To make a donation, please visit https://serenityhospice.org/donate/ or a check may be written “The Hope Foundation” and mailed to The Hope Foundation, 3021 Lorna Rd #200, Birmingham, AL 35216.

Donations can also be made in her remembrance to: The Portland Japanese Gardens, Mercy Corp, and Oregon Public Broadcasting.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.finleysunsethills.com for the Snider family.