ELLEN SNYDER

A service honoring Ellen’s life will be 11:00 a.m. Saturday, April 20, in the Tompkins Celebration Center at Friendship Haven with the Rev. Allan Redenius and the Rev. Jennifer Osheim-Owen officiating. Entombment will be in the Chapel of Peace Mausoleum. Visitation is 10:00 a.m. until service time on Saturday in the Tompkins Celebration Center. Memorials may be directed to Friendship Haven or First Covenant Church. Arrangements have been entrusted to Gunderson Funeral Home & Cremation Services.

Ellen is survived by her children, Denise (Paul) Halverson, Fort Dodge; and Richard Snyder, Slifer; her mother, Eloise Shepard, Fort Dodge (formerly of Waterloo); grandson, Miles McLellan; step grandchildren, Jason (Christine) Halverson, Jerod (Amy) Halverson, Andrea Marshall and Natalie Halverson; and great grandchildren, Kinley, Owen, Cole, Addison, Bennett, Emersyn and Mason. She was preceded in death by her father, Ruel Shepard, and her husband, Richard.

Ellen Colene Shepard, the daughter of Ruel and Eloise (Francis) Shepard, was born October 3, 1940, in Waterloo, Iowa. She graduated from Waterloo East High School in 1958, and then from the Waterloo School of Beauty Culture. On February 13, 1960, Ellen was united in marriage to Richard Snyder at Immaculate Conception Church in Charles City. The couple lived in Charles City where Ellen was a homemaker. They moved to Fort Dodge in 1965. Ellen worked as a beautician at Friendship Haven for 33 years and found great joy in serving residents there.

Ellen was a member of the Waterloo Community Playhouse, Waterloo Symphony and the Fort Dodge Symphony for which she played cello. She was a member of the Webster County Women’s Chorus, Fort Dodge Civic Glee Club, First Covenant Choir and Sonshine Singers. Music was her passion and she loved singing praises to God! She made a wonderful home for her family and shared her gift of hospitality with everyone she encountered.