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Western Illinois Professor Emeritus Lillian Snyder Passes Away

November 2, 2005

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MACOMB, IL - - Lillian Snyder, 91, of Nauvoo (IL), a Western Illinois University professor emeritus of sociology and anthropology, passed away Nov. 2, 2005.

She was born Sept. 14, 1914 in Kankakee (IL) to Dr. Robert and Florence (Baxter) Snyder. She is preceded in death by her parents; a sister, Mrs. Helen Whatley; and two brothers, John A. Snyder and Dr. Robert E. J. Snyder. She is survived by seven nephews.

Dr. Snyder attended Hillsboro (IL) Community High School. She earned a bachelor’s degree in agricultural economics from the University of Illinois (1937), a Master’s Degree of Social Sciences in social work form Smith College (1939) and a Doctorate of Social Work from Columbia University School of Social Work (1975).

Her work experiences range from being a caseworker in the 1930s to being a field director and social worker in the American Red Cross during the 1940s. In the 1950s, Dr. Snyder worked as a social worker in clinics and hospitals in New York, Maryland, Virginia and France. She began her teaching career in the late 1960s in Maryland.

Dr. Snyder published extensively. Her professional works included books and articles on social work, aging, alcoholism and mental health.

Dr. Snyder was a founding member of the National Icarian Heritage Society, a member and past president of the Nauvoo Historical Society, and a member of the Illinois State Historical Society, Institute for Icarian Investigations and the Communal Studies Association.

She demonstrated a staunch commitment to her community, with service to the Hancock County Health Board, the Hancock County Advisory Council to Retired Senior Volunteer Programs, the Nauvoo Historical Society and the Committee on Housing for Senior Citizens of Nauvoo, along with service at all levels at Western Illinois University.

Her love and devotion to the Icarian society, of which she was a descendant, provided her with a lifelong mission to preserve the society’s heritage. She helped to accomplish that by being a driving force in the founding and developing of the Center for Icarian Studies at Western Illinois University, and more recently by supporting its preservation through a gift for the Endowed Professor of Icarian and Regional Studies in the WIU Malpass Library Archives and Special Collections in August 2004. Dr. Snyder also donated her properties in Nauvoo to the Illinois State Historical Society to perpetuate the Icarian mission in the Nauvoo community.

Snyder came to Western in 1973, taught the first social work courses and instituted the social work concentration in the department of sociology and anthropology, which was later changed to the department of sociology, anthropology and social work.

Snyder prepared the foundation for the department of social work before her retirement in 1985. Social work became an accredited program in 1985 and an independent department in 1997. She established the Lillian and Florence Snyder Outstanding Social Work Senior Scholarship, which is awarded to senior social work majors displaying exceptional commitment to social work values. An electronic classroom on Western’s campus was dedicated in her honor in March, 2003.

Memorials may be made to the following: the Center for Icarian Studies at Western Illinois University, the Hancock County Hospice and the Nauvoo Historical Society.

Visitation is set for 9-11 a.m. Monday, Nov. 7, with services at 11 a.m. at the Lamporte Funeral Home, 308 Knight St., Nauvoo.



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