EASLEY — Craig Stephen Snider was born into this life Aug. 18, 1951 and passed into the next Oct. 31, 2019.

Craig was a lifelong resident of Easley, S.C. He attended East End Elementary and graduated from Easley High School’s class of 1969. As a boy and young man, he enjoyed the outdoors and spent much of his free time camping with family and friends along the Blue Ridge Parkway and at Table Rock State Park.

Despite a lifelong affliction with epilepsy, he began work at the early age of 10; taking a paper route with the Greenville Piedmont. He later worked with family at the local concrete company before attending several colleges throughout the Carolinas and Georgia. After returning home, he married Patricia Stapleton Snider in 1977. They had one son, Ian McAfee Snider, now of Zionville, N.C. As a father, Craig was very involved in Boy Scouts, little league baseball, church basketball, and eventually supporting his son’s college education.

After 39 years of marriage, Pat and Craig divorced in 2016. Upon retiring from over 25 years of service with the Greenville Health System, he found himself once again drawn to the mountains and a second chance at life. He found that in spades when he met Judy Marie Shomaker of Banner Elk, N.C. The couple enjoyed dancing, travel, waterfalls, college ministry, and were talking of marriage.

Craig was attempting to revamp an old wood carving business and consolidate his real estate holdings when he died suddenly at the age of 68. He was a friend to all who knew him and is preceeded in death by his sister Cindy Snider Hartley, his mother Lorraine Jones Snider, and his father, and WWII Bronze Star recipient, PFC David McAfee Snider; all of Easley, S.C.

In addition to his son, he is survived by his daughter-in-law Kelly Sheets Snider, his granddaughter Fina Mae Snider, and his grandson Oakley Thomson Snider; all of Zionville, N.C.

A Foothills memorial service will be held Sunday Nov. 10 at 3 p.m. in the courtyard of First Methodist Church in Easley, S.C. A High Country memorial service will be held at 3 p.m. Sunday Nov. 17 at Mount Calvary Baptist Church in Banner Elk, N.C.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that memorials be made in Craig’s honor to The Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation, Table Rock State Park-S.C., Mount Jefferson State Park N.C., First United Methodist Church Easley, S.C., and/or The College Ministry of Mount Calvary Baptist Church, N.C.

Condolences may be expressed online by visiting RobinsonFuneralHomes.com, or in person at Robinson Funeral Home-Downtown, which is assisting the family.