Herman Peter Snyder (1912-2009) was a key figure in the creation of Alumni Field in Slatington.
Herman Snyder from a Slatington High School yearbook.
Snyder grew up in Coplay, the son of Birdville Snyder and Gerda née Peters. It was a large family, and he was the fourth of nine children. After graduating from Northampton High School in 1930, he attended Muhlenberg College, graduating in 1934 with a Bachelor of Science degree. In the fall of 1934, he started teaching sixth grade in the Ironton school.
In June 1941, he married Lucy Lauchnor (1908-1998) of Neffs; they had two children (son and daughter). In March 1943 he started as a chemistry teacher at Slatington High School, but he was soon drafted and in July 1943, he was given a military leave of absence. After training in the United States, he served in 1944 as a sergeant in Europe with the 843rd Ordnance Depot Company earning campaign stars for Rome, Arno, Rhineland.
After earning an MA from Lehigh University in educational admin in 1948, he also received a secondary school principal’s certificate. In June 1949 the school board selected Snyder as the principal of Slatington High School, and then in 1961, Snyder became the school district’s supervising principal (superintendent), a position that he held until he retired in June 1973.
At his retirement, Snyder had been a teacher or administrator for 38 years since he first started teaching in 1938. That’s a long time! He had also served for seventeen years as treasurer of District XI (Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association, PIAA) and nineteen years as the secretary-treasurer of the Lehigh Valley League.
Herman Snyder died in 2009; his wife Lucy - in 1998. They were buried in Neffs Union Cemetery, Neffs, PA.