Army Spc. Devin Snyder


By Andrew Poole
The Evening Tribune
Posted Jun 05, 2011 @ 11:56 AM
Last update Jun 06, 2011 @ 10:57 AM


Cohocton, N.Y. — The war in Afghanistan claimed the life of yet another Steuben County native over the weekend.

Over a year after Hornell native Zach Smith was killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan, Cohocton native Devin Snyder, 20, a specialist in the U.S. Army Military Police, was killed by an improvised explosive device near Mehter Lam in Afghanistan on Saturday.

According to her family, three other U.S. Army members riding in the vehicle with Snyder were also killed in the blast.

Her mother, Dineen Snyder, remembered her daughter as an “outright sweetheart” who could always bring a smile to anyone’s face.

“She would give somebody the shirt off her back. She was very strong-willed, but very compassionate at the same time. I had always been afraid of her being in the army. She would have taken a bullet for anybody,” she said.

Snyder was deployed in Afghanistan in mid-March, said her mother, and was due home in July for two weeks.

Snyder was part of a family with strong ties to the military service. Her father and former Cohocton mayor, Edward Snyder, is a U.S. Navy veteran, and two of her siblings, Natasha, 23, and Damien, 19, currently serve in the U.S. Navy and U.S. Army, respectively.

Although confirming she was scared of her daughter joining the army, Dineen Snyder said she and her husband never tried to talk their daughter out of joining the service.

“She always had her heart set on joining the Army. We always let our kids make their own choices as to what they want to do. We were supportive,” she said.

Ron Snyder, the specialist’s uncle, agreed she always had her heart and mind set on joining the military.

“That was going to be her career. She wanted this since high school, and she was the type of person who knew what she wanted and worked her butt off for it,” he said. “She had a personality that wouldn’t quit.

“I don’t think she had any other interests except the army. That was her goal, to go as far as possible. She was probably a 30-year person.”

A 2008 graduate of Wayland-Cohocton Central School, Snyder was an avid soccer player and track star, who earned the nickname “Twiggy” when she started running track on varsity, said former Wayland-Cohocton girls track coach Jeff Englert.

“We brought her up as an eighth grader,” said Englert, who coached Snyder in high school. “She was always a real pleasant kid to be around. The older girls were taken with her. She just took their hearts. She was very humble, always looking to get better and better.”

Englert said he became close with her and the rest of her family during her five-year track stint, and that he’d stayed in touch with Snyder since she joined the service.

“She did a lot of great things for me as a friend her senior year. She told me the heartbeat of the team, anything I needed to look at as a coach. She helped me become a better person and coach,” he said. “She had everything going for her. To have it end like this is awful.”

Snyder is survived by her parents, Ed and Dineen Snyder; two brothers, Derek (Mariah) Snyder, 28, and Damien Snyder, 19; a sister, Natasha Snyder, 23; and a niece, Ariel.

Snyder’s family is flying to Dover, where her body is arriving today. Services aren’t scheduled yet but will be held at Walter E. Baird & Sons funeral home.

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