The New Republic
Woman’s Christmas memories of Meyersdale serve as inspiration for new children’s book 

By Scott Shumaker
Staff Writer

For many older people, memories of the way Christmas was celebrated during their childhoods have a particular resonance, creating recollections that last through the generations.

Author John Snyder of Gambrills, Md. (near Annapolis), has taken a holiday recollection of his 90-year old grandmother, Anna Snyder, who lived in LaVale, Md., until her death on Nov. 22, and turned her remembrances into a new Christmas book – The Golden Ring.

Anna’s husband, the late Howard John Snyder, was born in Berlin, and the two lived in Meyersdale following their marriage, John (the book’s author)’s father, Joseph Snyder, was born in Meyersdale and passed away in 1997.  His wife, (John’s mother) Betty, currently lives on Maryland’s eastern shore – at Chestertown.

Anna Snyder’s parents, Elda and Joseph Beal, lived at 525 North Street, Meyersdale.  Anna grew up with five siblings – Mabel “Sis”, Jule, Earl, Elwood “Boopie” and Dick.  All except Dick have passed away.

Anna and Howard left Meyersdale when their son was young.  Howard took a job with the B&O Railroad, and the family lived in Cumberland, Md.  Young John grew up in Cumberland, as well and his parents lived there until the late 1980’s when they moved across the state.

John graduated from Allegany High School in 1969, attended Allegany Community College from 1969 to 1971, and transferred to the university of Maryland in 1973.

For the past 18 years, John has owned The Snyder Group, a public relations and advertising firm.  Though he’s written magazine articles and press releases as part of his job, The Golden Ring is his first book.

“I have deep emotions,” he said, “and writing is a good release.”

He once wrote a poem about his own family’s Christmas traditions.  “My memories are wonderful.” He recalled.  His grandfather worked for the railroad until 11 p.m. on Christmas Eve; therefore, the family’s celebration started late, and continued through the wee hours of the morning.

A few Christmases ago, John and his family visited Anna Snyder in LaVale.  “I had her recount her life story to me, and I taped her,” John said.  “I asked her about her most memorable Christmas.”

That tale became The Golden Ring.  The book is set a few days before Christmas in Meyersdale, which the book describes as “nestled in the dense, snow-covered mountains of western Pennsylvania’s coal country.”

Anna (John’s grandmother), age nine has a close relationship with her father, Joseph, a hardworking engineer on the B&O Railroad.  Both daughter and father have a series of puzzling dreams, which mystifies both of them.

“Their search for the meaning of these dreams leads them to share an emotional and bonding Christmas experience. reads the book’s jacket.  “The experience, borne from a common vision in the night, will forever change their feelings toward the holiday and each other.”

The book talks about not only Anna and her father, but also her siblings, neighbors, and such characters as Martha Shultz, Reverend  Twigg, and Richard and Eleanor Wahl.

John admits his grandmother’s Christmas story has been enhanced and elaborated upon, with various elements added as he wrote it.  “The core of her story I found fascinating,” he said.  After hearing Anna’s tale, John, his wife and their daughters motored to Meyersdale to get a feel for the town in which his grandmother grew up.  The site of her home was a vacant lot at the time, but John was able to relive some of his own memories of coming to Meyersdale to visit with his great-grandmother Elda Beal.

“On our way back home, I kept re-playing the story in my head,” he said.  When he sat down to write it, John thought it would be a good Christmas story – after three years of periodically working on the tale, The Golden Ring took the form of a book.

The Golden Ring (subtitled A Touching Christmas Story) is a bit too difficult for small children to read t themselves, he said.  “I’ve read it to my nine-year-old,” said John, 47, “and she liked it.  Even my cigar-smoking golf buddies liked it!”

The author admits he has been “overwhelmed” with the reception he’s received since The Golden Ring’s publication last month.  He’s in the process of promoting it.  Locally, he has recently appeared at Main Street Books in Frostburg, Md., the Book Center in Cumberland, Md., and also at the Country Club Mall in LaVale.  People who are interested in the book and how to acquire it can log on the website www.thegoldenring.com or call (410)721-4447.

John’s purpose in recounting his grandmother’s story was twofold: first, it serves as a unique way to preserve this priceless bit of history; and secondly, it presents the reader with an important lesson to be learned.  The lesson, in the case of The Golden Ring, is learning that “goodness comes from giving,” stated the author.

In the book, a cycle of events are triggered by Anna’s generosity, John explained.  Even Anna’s father, whose stern religious convictions led him to decry the way Christmas was celebrated as “too commercial” – even in 1918—was able to learn the value of the “lighter” side of the holiday.

John is working on a number of ideas now for future books, based on the stories of his own ancestors.

“There are so many fascinating stories that the older generations can tell us about what life was like back then,” John stated in a news release for The Golden Ring.  “All we have to do is ask them to tell us, and then listen.  These stories of the early lives of our parents and grandparents are being lost.  Every time an older person dies, they take a piece of history with them.  We need to get these stories out so we can pass them along to our children.

"That was one of the reasons I wrote this book,” John concluded.

John was originally interviewed for this story less than one week before Anna Snyder passed away.  On Nov 29, he related to this reporter he was glad his grandmother got a chance to see the book – a book based on her own memories – before she died.