Martha Jane (Leake) Snider, 81, of Charlottesville passed away early on the morning of May 5, 2009, while surrounded by her loving family.
The fifth of Philip Rusk Leake and Anna Hardwicke Leake’s eight children was born at home on February 14, 1928 in the Goochland Co. area of Virginia. When Martha was 5 years old, her father broke his back in an on-the-job accident. Unable to work, the Leake home at Wilmer and Crenshaw avenues in Henrico County was repossessed. The Leakes, with three of Anna’s brothers, retreated to 10 acres in Short Pump. Martha’s family eventually moved into Richmond.
While at Saint Gertrudes High School, her prowess on the basketball court earned her the nick name “Frog Legs Leake.” She met John L. Snider in Richmond and they were married in Baltimore in 1945and then again, at the insistence of her mother-in-law, at St. Matthew’s Cathedral in Washington, D.C. in 1947. They resided in Washington, D.C. and she held several jobs, including office work for the CIA and a photographer at Waban’s night club, while her husband completed college. After settling in the Falls Church area, she raised a large family of six children. Working as a homemaking, her children were the major interest of her life. During this time, she was active in the Democratic Committee as an electoral delegate at state conventions. She drove a small school bus, she was a scouting den leader, and was a Ferry Moss Seed Co. representative. Later, she worked full time as a researcher for First Virginia Bank and retired in the early 1990s.
She was preceded in death by her son Phillip, daughter Daphne, one sister and five brothers.
She is survived by her brother Charles Leake, her children Mark Snider, Eric Snider, Adam Snider, Laura (Snider) Nunley, 13 grandchildren, 7 great grandchildren, 1 great great grandchild.
Family will receive friends at 10 a.m. and a Service will be held at 11 a.m. Friday, May 8, 2009, at Murphy’s Funeral Home, 1102 W Broad St., Falls Church, Virginia 22046. A brief graveside Service will follow at Chestnut Grove Cemetery, 831 Dranesville Road, Herndon, VA 20170.
