Now I don't know about you but there are a few people who make a big difference in our lives that just never got a lot of recognition and certainly not a lot of money for their efforts.  Gladys Snyder was certainly one of those but I would also say she loved what she did and she did not sit around and grip about her situation.  I would consider Mrs. Snyder one of the greatest all time teachers, encourager's, patriots, and Shidlerites ever to darken the door of a high school or any school.  She had a passion for learning and teaching.  Every year and I do mean every year she would chose one topic and study it for a year.  

One year she studied bugs while taking classes at OSU on the subject.  Do I need to get sophisticated and call it entomology?    Another year she studied fossils and another was Oklahoma History then there was archeology and the list went on and on for somewhere over 50 years.  She was not much for TV or even the Beatles (not the bug) which Susie was crazy about.  Now that I think about it Susie was the same as her mother, she studied bugs.  

Mrs. Snyder (Aunt Gladys to me) was absolutely amazing.  She had the most active of minds and could remember everything.  There was not a bug or leaf of a tree or plant that she could not identify.  She had every National Geographic since I don't know when and she read every one of them.  One year she came out to the farm many times to catch bugs during the day and at night.  She had all kinds of nets and then Dad even made her a net of screen wire on the end of a very long pole so she could catch bugs.  I bet you she had hundreds of bugs that she preserved and put in giant cases with glass fronts and special pins to hold the bugs in position and then she named each one.  The challenge about all this stuff she learned is that she would then take it to dear old Shidler High School and expect us children to learn all this stuff.  It was actually very fun and interesting.  She brought education to life.  

I don't know of any awards that Aunt Gladys received for her dedication to learning and teaching but she gets my award for the best and greatest.  She gave of herself and she gave it with a positive spirit and a dedication like no other.  She rooted for the underdog and I suppose that is because she was raised without a lot of money (we call that poor) but she was never poor in spirit or drive or ambition or love for her students.  Could she yell at her students?  You bet!  She expected great behavior and she expected you to learn.  There was something very special about her that was hard to describe or understand and that was a special caring about certain people.  For me it was David Howell who was in my class.  Aunt Gladys always took a special liking to David and I think it was because David's mother had passed away at an early age and she saw something special about David.  She had an eye for people with a special liking of science or a special curiosity and David was one of those.  

Not to get too far off the subject but David was a really cool friend.  In the 8th grade he built his own club house, made a still and even brewed up some beer.  He would read all of his books for all his subjects the first week or so of each semester but then he would put them down and move onto reading everything he could get his hands on.  David could fix about anything and would help about everyone who needed help.  You know I guess I just idolized David.

Anyway, back to Aunt Gladys.  After moving away from Oklahoma for many years when I moved back and after we had our children we called her up and asked her about helping with some fossil hunting and rock hunting.  She was excited to go and she knew of about every place in Oklahoma to go and look for fossils and rocks.  I am not sure how old Aunt Gladys was when she passed but well into her retirement she was still learning and going and going like the ever-ready bunny.  Aunt Gladys collected and documented large volumes of information on each branch of the family going back generations.  She and Beth Shumate (3rd, 4th and 5th grade teacher of mine plus Sally and Janie's mom) traveled all over the United States visiting court houses and cemeteries digging old (a little bit of humor) archives of information about the family.  She traced our family back to John Wesley in England and one of our great (super-great) aunts who ran with Bell Star the outlaw to one woman in the family that was in the early 1900's who was the leader of Women's Rights in America.  One of the items that really surprised me was when Beth Shumate and her visited a commune and sat and asked questions and interviewed them about what they were doing and why they were doing it.  Aunt Gladys just was not intimidated by anything.  In fact I would say she was pretty intimidating at times.

Oh well, it is time to go back to work.  So what do you learn in the Osage?

• The measure of a person and their success is not how much money they make but what they make of their life.
• Leaning is something that never stops but should be embraced as a pleasure of living
• If you keep moving death will be slow to catch you

Thanks for listening,

gary@thepioneerman.com