Obituary of Frances Lenora Snell

Mrs. Frances Griggs Snell went to be with her Lord on Sunday, May 31, 2015. She was 94. Funeral services will be in the Asbury United Methodist Church, Tuesday, June 2, at 2:00 PM, with Reverend Scott Greenwood and Reverend Jim Fillingim officiating. Interment will be in the church cemetery with Holman Funeral Home and Cremations of Ozark, directing. The family will receive friends at the funeral home from 5:00 – 7:00 PM on Monday, June 1. Her grandsons will serve as casket bearers; Franky Jackson, Terry Jackson, Anthony Childers, Ashley Childers, Jerry Snell, Jr. and David Snell. Mrs. Frances, as she was called, lived her entire life in the Asbury Community. She was an active member of Asbury United Methodist Church, where she began teaching Sunday school at the age of 16. Always involved, she organized Asbury’s first Vacation Bible School and United Methodist Women (UMW) and was later elected president of the Dothan District UMW. In 2010, she won the Harry Denmon Evangelism Award for exemplary UMC leadership. In addition, Mrs. Frances was involved in the Skipperville Community Service Club (formerly Home Demonstration Club). The Snell family was also chosen as the Outstanding Family of Alabama. In her spare time, she made caps for cancer patients and for children at UAB’s Children’s Hospital, collected stuffed toys for St. Jude’s Hospital, and sewed dresses for little girls at Dothan’s House of Ruth. In 1974, Mrs. Frances and friend Nellie Hughes developed a nature trail on the Snell farm in Asbury, where they identified over 500 plants. School groups, garden clubs, and nature lovers from the area walked the trail. Pictures of the path were made into slides and shown to civic organizations and schools. That effort earned the two ladies the Governor’s Award for Conservation and later the state’s W. Kelly Mosley Award. Further, she helped a Master’s degree student from Troy University to collect over 900 plants from Dale County. The collection was pressed and is on display at Troy University. Mrs. Frances, through Dale County Youth Services, also served as a mentor for a G. W. Long Elementary School student. She is now Margaret Collins, Mrs. Frances’s “third daughter.” Margaret and her husband Troy, both devout Christians, have three children and have raised four other children belonging to a member of her family. Further, Mrs. Frances was a member of the committee that drew up the Charter for the Retired Senior Volunteer Program. She served on the RSVP Board, as well as on the Board of the Senior Citizens’ Program. Frances Griggs Snell was preceded in death by her husband of more than 70 years, Frank Snell, a son Jimmy, her parents, and one brother, Wiley Hilbert Griggs. She is survived by two daughters, Judy Trawick and Joy Childers of Skipperville; sons Jerry (Jayne) Snell of Toccoa, GA, and Dr. Joe (Ann) Snell of Dothan; 9 grandchildren: Franky (Paula) Jackson, Sherry Dye, Terry (Brenda) Jackson, Anthony Childers, Amarylis Benefield, Ashley (Cheryl) Childers, Jerry (Christine) Snell, Jr., David (Amy) Snell, and Beth (Scott) Wang. Also surviving are 13 great-grandchildren: Clay (Kristie) Jackson, Robyn (Eddie) Logan, Margaret Jackson, Nathan, Corey, Mason, and Marshall Childers, Jay and Jackson Dye, Trey and Matthew Snell, Caroline and Callie Snell, and one great-great grandchild, Audrey Childers; her sisters Bonnie Pullen, Myra Shewmake, and Celeste Snell, as well as a host of nieces and nephews. Memorials may be sent to Covenant Hospice, 104 Rock Ridge Road, Dothan, AL 36303. The family wishes to thank Jessica, Bridgette, Amy, and Stella of Covenant Hospice, and Dr. Russell Bedsole and his nurses Carey, Candice, and Kim for the care they extended to their mother. Service Information