Lois Doran Snead, 98, died peacefully on July 5, 2021, in Front Royal, Virginia. She was born April 26, 1923, in Independence, Missouri, and was preceded in death by her beloved husband of 68 years, Judge Rayner Varser Snead; her parents, William Thomas Doran and Gladys Bledsoe Doran; her brother, William Neal Doran; and her grandson Lewis Duncan Snead. Lois is survived by her children Rayner Varser Snead, Jr. (Mollie), Dana S. Adamson, Samuel Doran Snead (Wanda), William Thomas Snead (D.D.), and Mary Elizabeth “Libby” Hewitt (Rob), as well as by sixteen grandchildren and eighteen great-grandchildren. Throughout the last years of her life, she was served well by her much-loved and constant canine companion, Itty Bitty.
The adored matriarch of her family, Lois set a wonderful example of patience, kindness, unconditional love, and generosity, freely sharing her time, talent, and bounty with her family, her many friends, her church, her community, and many favored charities. For 76 years, she was a faithful and dedicated member of Trinity Episcopal Church in Washington, Virginia, where she served in every capacity except rector. There, she was also a founding member of the Dried Flower Tour, an annual event that required the patient tending and artful arrangement of dried flowers in support of missions and also the needle pointers who also produced the kneelers in the Church. Lois also regularly attended Washington Baptist Church, founded by her husband’s ancestors. An avid reader, Lois helped fund and found the Book Barn, a support organization for the Rappahannock County Public Library, where she spent countless hours sorting, stacking, cataloging, and shelving used books.
As a young woman, Lois attended the University of Missouri with plans to get a degree in agriculture. Those plans were derailed, however, by her love for a certain ensign and the ensuing events of World War II. On June 27, 1943, Lois married the man who would truly be the love of her life, Ensign Rayner Snead, in Kansas City, Missouri. Two years later, they moved to Washington, Virginia, where Rayner established his law practice and soon received an appointment as a circuit judge. During both tenures, along with her many other responsibilities, Lois served as Rayner’s secretary and typist.
Her many talents, hobbies, and projects kept her patiently engaged to the completion of each. She was the accountant and tax preparer for Snead Orchards, Inc., and for other family entities. She was a master gardener, tending a wide variety of flowers, plants, and vegetables. She was an expert seamstress and quilter, sewing, embroidering, needlepoint, and knitting thousands of items for home and family, including needle pointing chair seats depicting Rayner’s life. She was an amateur but accomplished architect, designing and supervising the construction of three family homes over the years: Fairlea, Riverside, and Home Base. In the 1950s and 60s, she bought, renovated, and sold (as family projects) abandoned houses and farms in the county.
At Fairlea Farm, she finally realized her dream of becoming a farmer, accumulating a flock of 300 sheep, the largest in the county, and became an advisor to other farmers on the maintenance and care of sheep and lambs. In 1988, she took extensive art lessons and used oils, acrylics, and watercolors to create numerous works of art her family now enjoys. She and Rayner were missionaries in the U.S., helping small and struggling Baptist churches in the Northeast, and later abroad in Slovakia. They also founded and funded the Snead Family Foundation, a charitable organization, and established the Lois D. Snead Scholarship, an annual award to a Rappahannock High School senior showing promise in the arts. (The funds of both the Foundation and the Scholarship are now administered by the Northern Piedmont Community Foundation in Warrenton, Virginia.)
We celebrate her life as an amazing person, accomplished in many ways, a Renaissance woman, who wanted to be remembered as the “Girl from Independence.”
In lieu of flowers, please consider a contribution to Trinity Episcopal Church, 379 Gay Street, Washington, VA 22747, or to Washington Baptist Church, PO Box 209, Washington, VA 22747.
A memorial service is planned for Saturday, August 28, 2021, at 2:00 p.m. at Trinity Episcopal Church, Washington, VA.
A Celebration of Life service will be held at a later date.
