Thirteenth Generation (Continued)
Thirteenth Generation (Continued)
Family of Mabel Bernice Meisner (1203) & Walter Clifford Snair
2226. Walter Douglas Snair (Mabel Bernice Meisner12, Elkanah James11, Henry Isaac10, Sophia Catherine Huy9, Catherine Margaret Kraft8, Anna Maria Ramichen7, Johann Wendel6, Johann Georg Ramge5, Conrad4, Augustus3, Nikolaus Rämchen2, Nikolaus Reimbche1). Born on 17 May 1916.
Walter Douglas Snair was a paymaster lieutenant in the Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve during the Second World War.
“Doug Snair is not sure he believes in luck, and, he doesn’t use words like ‘centenarian.’ But, as a 100-year-old, who has endured a long string of brushes with death, Snair has lived a very unlikely life.
‘He downplays a lot of it,’ says Luke Goulette, the manager of the retirement home in Arnprior, Ontario, where Snair resides. ‘Because to him it was just a part of life, and something that happens to everybody, when actually, it didn’t.’ His narrow escapes started in 1917, when he survived the Halifax Explosion. The explosion killed almost two thousand people. He was very nearly one of them. ‘I was only a year-and-a-half old,’ recalls Snair, as he thumbs through photos with a Global News crew, in his room. ‘My mother got an awful lot of glass in her back, and she was very badly injured. I got some through the head. But I wasn’t tall enough. If I was a little taller, I probably wouldn’t be here.’
His sense of adventure undiminished, Snair’s next close call came at age four, when he fell off a Halifax pier. Snair laughs as he explained how he was rescued by a fisherman: ‘He went and fished me out with a boat hook.’ After nearly drowning in a leaky rowboat at age 13, Snair found himself at the centre of another historic accident. In 1942, he and his wife survived the crash of two war-time trains in Almonte, Ontario, that killed 36 others. The couple emerged, uninjured. ‘The only thing that happened is I broke the crystal in my watch,’ he chuckles. A year later, a job he wanted on the Navy ship, H.M.C.S. Athabaskan, went to someone else. ’Later on, the ship got in a fight with some German ships, and it was sunk and he was lost. I might have been on there.’
Three decades as a drug researcher followed. So did car wrecks, a skiing accident, and skin cancer. Over the years, he’s kept his trove of memories mostly to himself, content that he doesn’t need to understand why he survived calamities that claimed so many others. ‘I don’t know. These are just things that happened, as far as I’m concerned. I know that some people think that perhaps somebody’s looking after me and all that sort of thing, but, no I don’t. This is just something that happened and I couldn’t, I had no control over.’ His daughter, Carol Theriault, marvels at his incredible life journey, and, his enduring strength. She notes Snair received a new hip three years ago, keeping him mobile for frequent walks. Last May, he celebrated his 100th birthday by joining the Royal Canadian Legion.” (Global News, Toronto, Ontario, 15 February 2017)
Walter Douglas Snair was a paymaster lieutenant in the Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve during the Second World War.
“Doug Snair is not sure he believes in luck, and, he doesn’t use words like ‘centenarian.’ But, as a 100-year-old, who has endured a long string of brushes with death, Snair has lived a very unlikely life.
‘He downplays a lot of it,’ says Luke Goulette, the manager of the retirement home in Arnprior, Ontario, where Snair resides. ‘Because to him it was just a part of life, and something that happens to everybody, when actually, it didn’t.’ His narrow escapes started in 1917, when he survived the Halifax Explosion. The explosion killed almost two thousand people. He was very nearly one of them. ‘I was only a year-and-a-half old,’ recalls Snair, as he thumbs through photos with a Global News crew, in his room. ‘My mother got an awful lot of glass in her back, and she was very badly injured. I got some through the head. But I wasn’t tall enough. If I was a little taller, I probably wouldn’t be here.’
His sense of adventure undiminished, Snair’s next close call came at age four, when he fell off a Halifax pier. Snair laughs as he explained how he was rescued by a fisherman: ‘He went and fished me out with a boat hook.’ After nearly drowning in a leaky rowboat at age 13, Snair found himself at the centre of another historic accident. In 1942, he and his wife survived the crash of two war-time trains in Almonte, Ontario, that killed 36 others. The couple emerged, uninjured. ‘The only thing that happened is I broke the crystal in my watch,’ he chuckles. A year later, a job he wanted on the Navy ship, H.M.C.S. Athabaskan, went to someone else. ’Later on, the ship got in a fight with some German ships, and it was sunk and he was lost. I might have been on there.’
Three decades as a drug researcher followed. So did car wrecks, a skiing accident, and skin cancer. Over the years, he’s kept his trove of memories mostly to himself, content that he doesn’t need to understand why he survived calamities that claimed so many others. ‘I don’t know. These are just things that happened, as far as I’m concerned. I know that some people think that perhaps somebody’s looking after me and all that sort of thing, but, no I don’t. This is just something that happened and I couldn’t, I had no control over.’ His daughter, Carol Theriault, marvels at his incredible life journey, and, his enduring strength. She notes Snair received a new hip three years ago, keeping him mobile for frequent walks. Last May, he celebrated his 100th birthday by joining the Royal Canadian Legion.” (Global News, Toronto, Ontario, 15 February 2017)
In 1943 Walter Douglas married Thyra Grace Shore. Born abt 1922. Thyra Grace died on 21 Jul 1999; she was 77.
They had one child:
3049i.
2227. Bernice Marion Snair (Mabel Bernice Meisner12, Elkanah James11, Henry Isaac10, Sophia Catherine Huy9, Catherine Margaret Kraft8, Anna Maria Ramichen7, Johann Wendel6, Johann Georg Ramge5, Conrad4, Augustus3, Nikolaus Rämchen2, Nikolaus Reimbche1). Born on 9 Nov 1917 in Halifax, Halifax Co., Nova Scotia, Canada.15