Edna Muffet-Snyder was the youngest of Grandpa George Muffet Jr.'s seven siblings. In 1952, she married Jim Snyder and by the end of the 1980s, she was the only sibling still alive.
I always had a special relationship with them, their children, and grandchildren. Aunt Edna and Uncle Jim sat in the pew across the aisle from me at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church. Mom, Aunt Kathy, Cousin Krissy, and Cousin Nikki sat in my pew, while Elaine (Aunt Edna's daughter) sat with her parents, husband Ron, daughter Becky, and son Jamie across the aisle. In addition, their daughter Helen, was a room mother at Woodford Elementary with Mom. Helen's daughters, Sarah and Rachel, graduated from BHS in 2001 and 2003, so I spent plenty of time with them too. Since Rachel was in my graduating class, she ended up being my closest female childhood friend. Aunt Edna and Uncle Jim's son, Bob, is one of the family historians along with me, so we have that bond together.
Some of my earliest memory of Aunt Edna was when she took Sarah and Rachel to Tuscora Park during the summer, where Mom and I would see her. My favorite memory of Uncle Jim was having him help me with my leaf collection in 7th grade. He had many types of tree leaves and knew the names of all, just as well as a science teacher would. They would help out when they could, such as offering Grandma some medical equipment when she was beginning to have health problems that belonged to Uncle Jim's mother.
In June 2001, Mom took Grandma Muffet and I to Sarah's graduation party at her home. Grandma had a nice time talking to Aunt Edna and Uncle Jim that day. The week after the party, I started working at Acme, where Aunt Edna and Uncle Jim would come in and always stop to say hi. I was confirmed in October 2001 and remember having an interesting talk about the old times afterwards with Aunt Edna, Aunt Jo, and fellow parishioner Jean Uhl.
In April 2002, St. Andrew's was celebrating its 100th anniversary as a parish, which happened to fall the same month as Aunt Edna and Uncle Jim's 50th wedding anniversary and Uncle Jim's 70th birthday. In October 2002, Uncle Jim died suddenly, a little more than a year after Grandma had a major stroke that left her paralyzed and bedridden. On a few occasions, Aunt Edna and Uncle Jim would come to visit Grandma at the Barberton Hospital.
In 2003, Rachel and I graduated from BHS and if there were two people I wish could've been there who weren't, it was Grandma and Uncle Jim. I remember talking to Aunt Edna about how things changed a lot in two years. In the years after Uncle Jim's death and Krissy and Nikki's departure from Barberton, I began to sit in the pew with Aunt Edna and her family at St. Andrew's. Aunt Mary and Grandma died less than a week apart in July and August 2004, leaving Aunt Edna and Aunt Jo as the Muffet family matriarchs.
Jean Uhl died in 2005 and a generous donation her estate made to the church allowed for a handicap elevator to be installed. I would help Aunt Jo and Cousin Juanita (Grandpa and Aunt Edna's 1st cousin) down the elevator and Aunt Edna would ride along. Aunt Jo died in 2009 and Juanita died in 2011, but afterwards, fellow parishioner Louise Baker would ride along with Aunt Edna and I.
After Uncle Jim died, her family would help her with the garden. Some years, Aunt Edna would give me tomato plants for my yard, even last year. Aunt Edna was an important source to me on the topic of Muffet family history. I presented her with a family tree for her 80th and 85th birthdays in 2005 and 2010. I talked to Aunt Edna at church on Christmas Eve in 2014 and in the following days, she became ill. She died fairly suddenly on Jan. 9, 2015 at the age of 89.
