GRADUATION of PAUL SNIDER

The Snider family is celebrating the life of a beloved husband and devoted father.

  A longtime reader and student of The Urantia Book, Paul was a loyal and trustworthy friend and leader within our community.  

GRADUATION OF PAUL SNIDER

The Snider family is celebrating the life of a beloved husband and devoted father.  A longtime reader and student of the Urantia Book, Paul was a loyal and trustworthy friend and leader within our community.  His children recently shared:

“My dad left his body (and the rest of us) behind this last Sunday, 7/21/19, and started his transition to the next great adventure.  He just turned 88 in June, and felt so grateful for the long and *interesting* life, and the privilege of getting to watch not only his children but his grandchildren grow older and wiser.  He and my mom were to celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary this New Year's Eve.

As Cayce has said a number of times, it's hard to imagine a world without him.  He was just the most dependable and trustworthy person you could ever know, and it was always a comfort, even if a distant one for some of us, to know he was there if we needed him.  In the last few years, when he could no longer change our tires, gives us rides, untie knots, rebound basketballs and collect kites out of trees, he was still someone you could count on for friendship, bold new ideas, and moral support, even under the most challenging of circumstances.  He could always surprise you with a new thought.

To our great comfort, he has left us a lifetime of wisdom, horribly corny jokes, valuable writings, and unwavering faith in the truth, beauty and goodness of our Father in Heaven.

There will be a graduation party.

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Dear friends,

Along with many of you who were fortunate enough to know him, Steve and I celebrate the life of our dear friend Paul Snider.  Paul and family were the first Urantia Book readers we met, our only son Marc gained 7 brothers and sisters and we had the good fortune to grow  up together with the revelation.

In addition to being a beloved husband and friend, a loyal and trustworthy leader, Paul was a revelation of devoted fatherhood.  Through his long illness he convalesced at home as his every need was attended to by his daughter Cayce along with her sister Sue.

For those of you who will await the pleasure of knowing him until a mansion world encounter I share some words from Sue:

“My dad left his body (and the rest of us) behind this last Sunday, 7/21/19, and started his transition to the next great adventure.  He just turned 88 in June, and felt so grateful for the long and *interesting* life, and the privilege of getting to watch not only his children but his grandchildren grow older and wiser.  He and my mom were to celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary this New Year's Eve.

While we have been shedding our share of tears, we are also so happy for him - he was truly ready to go.  We all consider this a graduation.  Although if you're into video games, you might think of this as him "leveling up."

But we will miss him.  We already miss him.  As Cayce has said a number of times, it's hard to imagine a world without him.  He was just the most dependable and trustworthy person you could ever know, and it was always a comfort, even if a distant one for some of us, to know he was there if we needed him.  In the last few years, when he could no longer change our tires, gives us rides, untie knots, rebound basketballs and collect kites out of trees, he was still someone you could count on for friendship, bold new ideas, and moral support, even under the most challenging of circumstances.  He could always surprise you with a new thought.

To our great comfort, he has left us a lifetime of wisdom, horribly corny jokes, valuable writings, and unwavering faith in the truth, beauty and goodness of our Father in Heaven.”

Bon voyage dear friend - until we meet again.

Bobbie and Steve 

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Bobbie,

Thank you for sharing the knowledge of Paul's graduation as someone we all admired.  He was a dependable guide in this life.
Love to his family, Charlene 

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Paul is a spiritual giant. His effect on this planet has yet to be felt. Wonderful man, great brother and inspirational guide. I will miss Paul.  

Thank you Bobby.

Love Tom

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Thank you, Bobbie!!

I feel truly fortunate to have known Paul, and wish I’d had the opportunity to know him much better! 

Here’s one of my favorite photos ...  I just happened to be there at the right moment, at a 533  Christmas gathering In 2014. 

Two outstanding “servants of the circles” of their generation! We all stand on the foundation they created!

And on we go…  Marvin

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Thank you, Bobbie, for sharing the news of Paul’s graduation.  I know how close you and Steve were to the Snider’s.  I last saw him a couple years ago when he made it to one of the socials @ 533.  He was looking quite dapper with his fedora hat  ;-)

I consider myself very fortunate to of had some quality time with Paul through the years. He was certainly an inspiration to me. I found him to be a well-balanced individual. Strong and yet gentle, devoted to the revelation and yet always prioritizing his family life. His keynote speech @ IC’99 at the University of British Columbia, will always remain one of my favorite talks. Paul always kept it real. I believe Paul was the right personality to be that first “outsider” to become president of the Brotherhood. He was a true leader amongst men/women. Two of the words that come to mind when I think of Paul Snider are steadfast & loyal. 

Well done, brother! To be continued ...

Sending much love to the Snider family.

Tony Finstad

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Anthony and All, I'm sure I must have met Paul at a conference or two, but what stands out in my mind is when the Fort Wayne Urantia Society was chartered.  If my memory is correct, Paul and one other person came down to do the honors at Meredith and Irene Sprunger's home.  It was around 1970 plus or minus a year or two.  And again, if my memory is true, he gave a talk about how the Urantia Book is like a four part symphony.   I wish I had a copy of that talk. Yes, he was a gracious person as I recall.

Dick

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Hello friends, 

My recollection of Paul easily lends itself to being expressed, like all of these that have been shared, as a tribute to a singular personality.  Of the several comments that have been shared, those that harmonize most with my own--really more limited--experience--than those of many who have written about Paul here.  

But, for me it was Paul's balanced (and thereby Jesusonian) personality, the resourceful strength that one sensed lying behind the kindness and gentleness of his personal dealings, relationships and friendships with his fellows, and finally, his decisive intellect and unmistakably extraordinary capacity for able leadership.  

As I write and then read back over the attributes of Paul's personality I have listed here, they sound to me, and they are, more abstract or categorical, even analytically removed from the impressive, even unforgettable, experience of simply being with him.   

And it was that combination of his powerful and intelligent appreciation for the depth of the responsibility of serving in a capacity that carries with it a greater-than-average potential for affecting the course of the dissemination, preservation, and utilization of the revelation by its present-day acknowledged believers and the rest of the as-yet unaware or unimpressed majority of these early generations of contemporaries during the earliest phases of the Book's career and its unfolding mission among the peoples of our world with Paul's extraordinary personal sensitivity to and respect for the experience, viewpoint, and uniqueness of each reader--whom he conceived of himself as SERVING and LEADING--that so endeared him to me.

But it was not ONLY my observation of Paul's ability to so relate himself to such a wide range of personalities as the readership of The Urantia Book, BUT ALSO my experience of how PERSONALLY I experienced his relating those rare personality traits of kindness, friendliness, and individual appreciation to ME -- that personal experience of my, yes limited, but deeply appreciated personal friendship / relationship with Paul that leaves an indelible memory impression that I know will be a part of my memory restoration in the great reunions awaiting all of us on the next cosmic level upward---in that happy "promised land" which I occasionally heard some of the "Forumites" refer to as --  "upstairs."    These comments often had this formula:  "Well we may not have understood much about the Paper we just studied today, but I'm sure we'll all have plenty of time to get a better understanding 'upstairs' -- indeed, there's no rush at all:  We've got eternity to 'get it.' "

With deep respect for Paul, but even more love,

David Glass

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Friends,

I also would like to pay tribute to Paul Snider.  He helped me many years ago.

Back in the mid 1980's our Oklahoma Society held a regional conference at Lake Murray Resort, about two hours south of Oklahoma City.  Paul attended our conference.  I think Mary also came, but that memory is dim.  

I was a young mother of two boys, about four and one, and they were a handful.  Especially at lunchtime, corralling their exuberance while waiting for our food.  I had one on one side of me and one in a high chair that he did not want to be in.  By the end of the meal I was exhausted trying to make them behave.  

Paul was sitting at the same table and after the meal he indicated that he wanted to tell us something.  He said that when they had their first kid, they sat him in the high chair, and wiped his face, all very neat and proper, but by the time they got to the last one, Paul would just plop him on his lap and eat around him as he ate out of his plate.

I just burst out laughing, my mood was considerably lightened and I didn't feel quite so stressed out over my parental responsibilities.  I have told that story many times over the years and it still makes me smile.  I think a big part of the hilarity was the vision of the august personage of Paul Snider, a great man in our community, patiently putting up with the eating habits of a two year old.  

Thanks, again, Paul.

Beth Challis
Urantia Book Society of Oklahoma Vice President

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Also, I think I mentioned that I thought that Paul Snider gave a talk about the UB as a four part symphony at the chartering.  Janet found that talk, scanned it and set me a copy, so I'm pretty sure that Paul was at the chartering ceremony.  Unfortunately, the talk isn't dated, so there is that bit of uncertainty.  Janet had mentioned Alvin Kulieke as a possibility, but I think Paul was Brotherhood president in 1969.  TBD.

I probably won't fly up for the ceremony, but we are discussing a possible Zoom connection.  I may be the only founding member with whom they have contact. 

Namaste, Dick

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 From:  Janet Kratzat

It was really good talking to you and getting to know you on the phone. I believe that I have a copy of a key note address that Paul gave at some point during our history of a Fort Wayne Society. I will send that as soon as I am back in Fort Wayne.

The date of our 50 year celebration is November 9 at noon. It will be a luncheon and program by David and Marilyn Kulieke. It will be held a Holiday Inn Purdue, 4111 Paul Shaffer Drive. I will look into ZOOM-ing this celebration.

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Excerpt from "The Coming Age of Personal Religion" by Paul Snider

“… There is a mounting spiritual hunger rising in the souls of men and women throughout the world, greater in scale than at any time in human history. The traditional sources of inspiration – the world’s formalized religions – do not always satisfy this growing hunger. Every religion is sincere and beautiful in its own way, but almost all are heavy with dogma and rituals and traditions that may seem limiting to the spiritually adventurous mind… to many, something seems to be missing… the hunger grows like an ache in the soul.

Personal religion comes into being to satisfy these longings… It is the compelling stimulus to search for ever deeper and more meaningful relationships with God and fellow man. Personal religion is thus a religion of expanded relationships, of independence from dogma and confining boundaries... Personal religion is the act of man establishing a direct and personal relationship with his Maker and all that flows from the relationship.”