<p><em>Myron Dow “Ron/Ronnie” Snoke</em> was born October 25, 1927 in Goshen, a small town in northern Indiana. He grew up during the Depression and was an active youth, taking great interest in school, sports and international affairs. These traits led him to be elected president of his senior class in high school and to submit an application for admission to USMA.<br />Ronnie received a congressional appointment, and after a year at prep school he entered the Academy in 1946, earning his commission as a second lieutenant of Engineers in 1950. His first assignment was with the 54th Engineer Battalion of the Constabulary Division in Germany, where he learned a great many things from hands-on experience in the field.<br />During summer leave in 1951, Ronnie married his sweetheart, Mary-Jean Cash, in Goshen. The two of them spent the next two years in southern Germany and welcomed their first child, Stephen, in November 1952. Seven months later, the family returned Stateside, where Ron was assigned to Fort Belvoir, VA for an advanced engineering course.<br />Having welcomed their second son, David, into the world in June 1954, Ronnie and Mary-Jean moved once again, one year later, to Memphis, TN where Ron was assigned to the Corps office for the Lower Mississippi region. This was a great opportunity for Ron to develop his skills in dealing with the challenges of the inland waterways, and his three years in Memphis passed quickly.<br />The summer of 1958 found Ronnie in Guam, where he was tasked with duties that he could never fully disclose to the family but apparently entailed a fair amount of interaction with various government agencies. Mary-Jean and the boys stayed with the grandparents in Goshen until Ronnie returned in the summer of 1959.<br />For the next three years, Ron was tasked with oversight of the ROTC program at the University of Illinois in Champaign, while he earned his master’s degree in civil engineering. In the summer of 1962, the family set off for Fort Leavenworth, KS, where Ronnie was to attend CGSC. Upon graduation, the family sailed for France, where Ronnie would join the 83rd Engineer Battalion as executive officer.<br />The 83rd was located in the Loire Valley, in Chinon, with its headquarters established on the grounds of a hospital compound, one of the many thousand-bed hospitals built by the U.S. Army across Europe in the anticipation of a possible Soviet attack on NATO. After a very enjoyable 20 months in Chinon, Ron was sent to Paris to manage the ABMC, a task which he relished.<br />In June 1966, the family set off for Fort Hood, TX, where Ron was to form, train and deploy the 589th Engineer Battalion as its commanding officer. The 589th deployed to Vietnam the following year and immediately set to work building and re-building scores of structures, hundreds of miles of paved roads, including Route 19, and countless airstrips, including one which is today the international airport at Vinh Than. On numerous occasions (including the Tet New Year), the enemy attempted to disrupt the work of the 589th, but they were never successful in doing so. The performance and accomplishments of the men of the 589th were without question Ron’s proudest memories of his service to the country.<br />Upon his return Stateside in 1968, Ron and the family decamped Texas for Northern Virginia, where Ron assumed stewardship of CERC for one year, prior to attending the War College in Carlisle Barracks, PA, graduating in the summer of 1970.<br />The next stop was Detroit, MI, where Ron took-up duties as the district engineer in the Corps’ Great Lakes region. This was a busy three-year assignment, with numerous engineering challenges interspersed with local and regional political issues. Ron was nevertheless quite satisfied with the progress made in Great Lakes navigation during his tenure.<br />From Detroit, Ron returned to Europe in the summer of 1973, this time as the deputy to the chief of staff for Engineering, USAREUR, in Heidelberg, Germany. This period was still quite busy in Germany, as the Army was still expanding its presence, and the Cold War showed no sign of abating. Much of Ron’s final 18 months overseas was spent planning and executing the deployment of Brigade 76 to northern Germany.<br />Ron returned to the United States for his final posting, as deputy division engineer of the Corps’ Ohio River Division, in Cincinnati. His tenure covered two of the coldest winters on record in the Ohio Valley, with ice closing the river to navigation on both occasions. Taken together with the constant work to maintain the lock and dam network on the river system, the weather made this one of the truly challenging of Ron’s assignments.<br />With 30 years of service behind him, Colonel Myron Snoke retired from the Army. After two years of consulting work, he was approached by Clermont College, a satellite campus of UC, with an offer to join the faculty of the engineering department. For the next 25 years, Ron taught nearly every math, physics and engineering course in the undergraduate curriculum, helping to shape the lives of many aspiring young people.<br />Ronnie retired from this rewarding second career in 2006, at the age of 79, in order to spend more time with his young grandson. He achieved this goal as well, spending many happy hours watching his grandson grow to maturity. His grandson, wife and surviving son were with him when he passed, peacefully, early in his 92nd year. They were joined by one of Ron’s company commanders from the 589th.<br />Ronnie was interred at Violet Cemetery in Goshen. He will be joined there, in due course, by his wife of 68 years, Mary-Jean. A loving family, and a good life, well-lived.</p>