Noël Snouffer Vertrees, age 77, of Columbus, passed from God being with her in life to God being with her in death during the early morning of Sunday, August 5th. The last days of her life were under hospice care at the OhioHealth Kobacker House. There, family and friends visited with her and shared hours of happy remembrances of her and her loved ones that were enriched by delving into the numerous albums of photos and mementoes she had prepared over many years with much love and care.
Noël was born on May 22, 1941 in Aurora, Illinois. She was preceded in death by her father, Colonel William Noel Snouffer (USAF Retired), her mother, Florence Corinne Campbell Snouffer, and her sister, Mary Snouffer Larson. She is survived by her husband, Robert Layman Vertrees, her sons Kevin Robert (Eavan), Kent Layman (Julia), and Kyle William, and by grandchildren Alessandra, Lucas, Josephine, and Sophie Vertrees. She is also survived by brothers William Campbell Snouffer (Katharine) and Richard Kent Snouffer (Lark), her sister Anne Cochran (Robert), and by nieces Christina and Patricia Snouffer and Suzanne Cochran Courson and nephews John Cochran and Jeffery and Eric Larson.
Her father being a career officer in the Air Force, Noël had many influential and lasting experiences from growing up in numerous communities, usually on or near Air Force Bases, with particularly meaningful ones being Nagoya, Japan (in her 8th and 9th grades), and Biloxi, Mississippi (10th and 11th grades). Experiences in Nagoya and Biloxi, combined with other experiences, contributed to her teaching and furthering of intercultural and interracial harmony. After her father's retirement, her family lived in Lexington, Massachusetts, where she graduated from Lexington Senior High School in 1959. She then earned her Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Connecticut in 1963, with a major in home economics education. Her decision to study and teach home economics was influenced by her mother, who was her shining example as a home-making mentor when she and her husband raised five children in ways that have had them remain close throughout life. This familial influence on Noël was passed along when she, along with her husband, Robert, created a warm, caring home life, leading to lifelong closeness, for their three sons, Kevin, Kent, and Kyle, who were present at her passing.
After earning her B.S. degree, Noël taught from mid-l963 to mid-1965 at Dodd Middle School in Cheshire, Connecticut, which is near Yale University. While teaching home economics at Dodd, Noël had her first experience with special needs students. This experience changed the direction of her professional life, and led to the deeply felt religious belief that her professional mission in life was to teach special needs students. This decision was influenced by hearing sermons by William Sloan Coffin, Chaplain of Yale University Chapel and a leader in the civil rights movement, who emphasized that a person's service, beyond one's church membership and participation, can be in keeping with God's purposes, such as those related to showing mercy and the furthering of justice.
Following this religious insight, Noel then attended Michigan State University in 1965 and 1966, where she earned her Master of Arts degree, with coursework leading to certificates to teach special education in public schools. Noël taught special education for almost thirty years, mainly with twenty-two years in the Columbus School District at either Everett Middle School or Whetstone High School.
When at Michigan State, she met and began a lifetime partnership with her husband to be, Robert, also a graduate student, who had recently served as a Lieutenant in the U. S. Marine Corps. They were married on June 18, 1966 - a marriage that lasted over 53 years. With their three sons, they lived in four different states and were sequentially members of three main-line Protestant Churches. Among the commonalities shared by Noël and Robert were love of country, enjoyment of nature, and a closeness to relatives and friends who lived elsewhere. Furtherance of these commonalities led to many auto trips as a family, with some involving camping and fishing, to most parts of Ohio and to many parts of the United States.
Primarily after retiring from her teaching career, Noel was an active member of the Worthington Women's Club and the University Women's Club and had many friends in them. (Along this line, see the last section of this obituary which provides more information about Noël's participation in these Clubs and how, in lieu of flowers, to donate to them.)
Although she did not usually express them overtly, Noël's deep and abiding religious beliefs were known to those especially close to her. As family and friends gathered together in the Kobacker House during her final days, discussing their memories and reviewing the family albums Noël had compiled over the years, one noticeable and shining trait that was commented on was Noël's genuinely happy smile and her inward, trusting, religious belief. This belief is reflected in the hymn, "His Eye Is on the Sparrow", which she suggested for inclusion in her Celebration of Life Worship service and has this refrain: "I sing because I'm happy, I sing because I'm free, for his eye is on the sparrow, and I know he watches me".
Family and friends will gather to pay their final respects at SCHOEDINGER WORTHINGTON CHAPEL, 6699 N. High Street in Worthington on Friday, August 17th from 5:00pm to 8:00pm. A Celebration of Life Worship Service will be held at 2:00pm, Saturday, August 18th at Worthington Presbyterian Church, 773 High Street in Worthington, OH 43085. Private interment will be held that morning at Kingwood Memorial Park in the Whispering Waters Section.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Noel's name to: (1) the Worthington Women's Club in which she used her artistic talents as a member of the Decorations Committee to brighten tables and name tags for meetings (call 614 846 0206 to learn how to make a donation); (2) the Peggy R. McConnell Arts Center of Worthington, 777 Evening St., Worthington, 43085, where many of the WWC Arts Interest Group events (which Noel once co-chaired) are held, and/or (3) The University Women's Club of Ohio State Scholarship Fund (Fund Number 605431 of the OSU Office of Student Financial Aid), which is supported by proceeds from Buckeye Bargains, the UWC thrift shop where Noel volunteered for many years and which primarily, but not exclusively, supports scholarships for women students at OSU.
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