Mrs. Pat Snyder will retire from BGCS after 50 years at the end of this school year. Pat Snyder currently serves as the librarian at Central Elementary School. However, her first position at Beech Grove City Schools was as a teacher’s assistant, where she was responsible for a student reading group. Mr. Rund, her principal at the time, told her that there was going to be a library established at the high school, and that Pat would be the Librarian there! Pat responded, “I don’t know anything about being a Librarian.” Mr. Rund replied, “You will learn.” And, learn she did! Pat had a friend who was a Librarian in Perry Township who mentored her, along with providing good resources for her to access to prepare for her new position.
For many years, Pat split her days between Central Elementary and South Grove; beginning her day at Central, and then traveling to South Grove at noon to staff their library. Mrs. Snyder said that she “absolutely love the kids at Central Elementary. Sometimes when kids are having issues in their classroom, they are sent to the library, where I put them to work. This often turns their day around so that they can return to their classroom.”
Pat moved to Beech Grove when she was 11 years old. She is a proud member of the BGHS Class of 1953. She served as the Editor of the school newspaper, The Beech Leaf. She said she had great teachers at the high school, including Miss Crabb, her history teacher. Because of her, she wanted to be a history teacher. Her love of history spurred a love of travel. She and her late husband, Dave, traveled to the Wailing Wall in the Holy Land, to Athens, Greece, and Rome, just to name a few interesting and historical visits.
Pat worked under seven principals while at BGCS: Mr. Rund, Mr. Collins, Dr. Rathbun, Mr. Terlep, Mr. Buckler, Ms. Cotter, all at Central Elementary; and for Mr. Williams at South Grove. She has seen five superintendents come and go at Beech Grove City Schools: Mr. Bales, Dr. Showalter, Mr. Betar, Dr. Sager and Dr. Kaiser. She said she has not yet met our new superintendent, Dr. Laura Hammack, but has only heard wonderful comments from all staff about her!
Mrs. Snyder has one son. She has two grandsons that she is extremely proud of and beams with pride when talking about them; and four great grandsons. She and her husband were married almost 60 years before his passing, just three months before their 60 year anniversary. Pat is looking forward to retirement, where she will spend her time doing yard work, catch up on her reading as she rocks on her front porch and taking fun day trips with her friends. Pat said, “Although I’m looking forward to retirement, I’m going to miss all my great friends at Central Elementary and South Grove. I couldn’t have asked for better people to work with.”