...Cohocton native, soldier Devin Snyder returns home, with family and friends.Lynn Brennan.Sgt. Devin Snyder’s casket is carried into the Walter E. Baird and Sons Funeral Home in Wayland Monday afternoon.

By Andrew Poole
The Evening Tribune
Posted Jun 14, 2011 @ 09:07 AM
Last update Jun 14, 2011 @ 09:26 AM


Cohocton, N.Y. — It wasn’t supposed to be like this.

Devin Snyder’s homecoming in July was supposed to be a 14-day solace, a two-week reprieve from the carnage and intensity of duty in the Middle East.

It was supposed to be a time rife with the enjoyment of family and friends, of the Cohocton community that watched her grow up during the past two decades.

She is home now. But it wasn’t supposed to be like this.

U.S. Army Sgt. Devin Snyder — beloved daughter, sister, friend, student, soldier — dead at 20 years of age, killed by a roadside bomb on June 4 in the Laghman Province in Afghanistan.

Nine days after her tragic death, a state police-escorted cortege — led by Trooper Chris Smith, father of fallen Hornell Marine Lance Cpl. Zach Smith — wound its way through Wayland and Cohocton, coming to rest at the Walter E. Baird & Sons Funeral Home in Wayland.

Hundreds lined the route, many with flags and tears and signs professing love, and all with silence as they braved the heat to catch a glimpse of the hearse carrying their track star-turned soldier.

Just after 1 p.m., the cortege turned the bend on State Route 63 toward the Village of Wayland, proceeding through rows of silent students waiting outside the school Snyder graduated from in 2008.

The procession entered the village, passed sidewalks thick with muted spectators, and then headed north on State Route 21 and into Cohocton. Finally the cortege passed her family’s house on State Route 415 and the home of little Lauren Grace Hughes, the girl who lived across the street from Snyder, the girl whom Snyder babysat, the girl now proudly brandishing an American flag in memory of a friend and mentor.

Approximately four hours after her body was transferred by an Army honor guard from a plane at Rochester International Airport for the ride home, the cortege reached the funeral home. Another Army honor guard conveyed her body inside, as Patriot Guard Riders, holding flags skyward, encircled her family.

Friends, teachers, neighbors, and strangers lined the sidewalk, many with tears even the hot June sun couldn’t evaporate, and all carrying the sadness of knowing a life extinguished far too early.

Devin Snyder is home now. And here, amongst family and friends, she’ll stay.