Alice Bentz Hagan Snider

Born on December 4, 1921, she was the daughter of the late Frank L. Bentz, Sr. and the late May Hagen Bentz. Her childhood years were spent on the family farm in Boonsboro, MD with her brother Frank L. Bentz, Jr. and cousin Charles William Harris. She was a graduate of Boonsboro High School and the University of Maryland Medical School.

She married the late Alfred E. Snider on November 15, 1952 in Hagerstown, Maryland and had three children. She raised her family in Baltimore, MD, Rochester, NY and Bedford, MA, while working as a phlebotomist and clinic administrator. She worked days at Lexington Labs, which became Smith Kline & French and then SmithKline Beckman. She spent her evenings on call for the New England Rehabilitation Hospital in Woburn, drawing blood and then running the tests. She retired from Smith Kline in Boston, MA in 1987 after 40 years of service.

Throughout her life she was active in volunteer activities which supported her community, from desegregation efforts in Baltimore in the 1960s to more recent work in the city. She regularly assisted in low-income medical clinics, provided bookkeeping support and transportation to the elderly, acted as treasurer of the Goldenbrook Homeowners Association and participated in numerous committees at The Heartlands Senior Living Village. For her many tireless hours of volunteering in the community, she was given the Award of Distinction in recognition of dedicated humanitarian service to the citizens of Maryland and named as an Honoree in the 2000 Maryland Senior Citizens Hall of Fame. In 2001, the Baltimore County Executive issued a proclamation recognizing her dedicated service with the Representative Payee Program. In 2002, she was presented a Certificate of Appreciation by the MD Department of Human Resources.

She befriended many immigrants to the US, becoming familiar with the culture and cuisine of India, China and Pakistan. She was well known for her love of gardening and wild animals, especially the birds and the blue crabs of her native Maryland. Her annual crab feasts were legendary in Bedford, with people waiting anxiously around the fire pit for the arrival of bushels of crawly creatures from the south. Her adventurous spirit let her into many activities considered unusual for a person in their golden years: riding the Space Mountain roller coaster at Disney World, taking a flight in a motorless glider, soaring over Pennsylvania in a hot air balloon, touring the Mayan ruins in Yucatan.

She is survived by her children Michael Snider of Reed, KY, Craig and Leila (Levin) Snider of Bowie, MD and Robert and Shelley (Smith) Snider of Chelmsford, MA. She will be truly missed by her family, including her 7 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren, her brother Dr. Frank L. Bentz, Jr. of Ellicott City, MD and cousin Bill Harris of Herndon, VA, her nieces & nephews and by her many friends located all across the country.

Memorial Services will be held on June 19, 2010 at the Heartlands Senior Living Village in Ellicott City, Maryland at 2 pm and on July 31st in Chelmsford, Massachusetts. In lieu of flowers, a memorial contribution in Alice’s memory may be made to either the House of Ruth in Baltimore at http://www.hruth.org/ or the Pine Street Inn in Boston at http://www.pinestreetinn.org

Arrangements under the direction of Robert E. Evans Funeral Home, Bowie, MD.

**Please take a moment to watch the video of Alice's Life on the right hand side of this web page. Thank you