Joseph B. Snyder

Sheldon, Iowa

Joseph B. Snyder, 79, of Pittsburg, California passed away on Sunday, January 11, 2026, at his residence. Memorial services, including viewing and funeral mass, will be held January 21 at 9:30 a.m. in California at St. Ignatius of Antioch, Antioch, California. Visitation with family present will be from 9:30 to 11:30 A.M. on Monday, January 26, 2026, at Andringa Funeral Home in Sheldon. 

To view the prayer service and graveside service via livestream, please register at: https://event.forgetmenotceremonies.com/ceremony?c=abe717c4-2999-42d5-82cb-7b2412a2dd42

Burial with military honors will be at St. Patrick's Catholic Cemetery at 12 (Noon) on Monday, January 26, 2026.

Arrangements are under the care of the Andringa Funeral Home in Sheldon.

Joseph Bernard Snyder

Joseph Bernard (“Joe”) Snyder was born July 30, 1946, in Los Angeles, California, and died peacefully at his home in Pittsburg, California, on January 11, 2026. He was 79. He passed away surrounded by family, friends, and devoted caregivers after a long struggle with kidney failure and other chronic illnesses.

Joe was the son of Lillian Birch Snyder (1912–1994) and Wilford Bernard Snyder (1911–1982), both raised in large farming families in northwest Iowa, who moved to Southern California during the Great Depression.

He is survived by his older brother Stephen M. Snyder and sister-in-law Faye Orton Snyder of Lafayette, California; and by the children and grandchildren of Stephen and his late wife Judith Hopkins Snyder (d. 2007): nephew Jason K. Snyder, his wife Kylie, and son Francis; and Jason’s former wife Nicole Stanford Snyder and their daughters Jaden and Jaeger, all of Ripon, California; niece Anna Snyder Kemp, her husband David Kemp, and their children Cole, Joaquin, and Sloane of Oakland, California; nephew Nathaniel H. Snyder of Walnut Creek, California; and Danny Zuehlsdorf, widower of Joseph’s late niece Karen Snyder Zuehlsdorf (d. 2014), and their children Summer and Tanner of Martinez and Walnut Creek, California.

Joe also is survived by his brother-in-law Gerald Hopkins and his wife Nancy of Carmel, California, and by the children and grandchildren of Faye Orton Snyder.

Joe was raised in the southeastern Los Angeles communities of Maywood, Bell, and Huntington Park. He attended Fishburn Avenue School, St. Rose of Lima Catholic School, Carmelita Junior High School, and Bell High School. At Bell High, he distinguished himself as a writer and an affable humorist, serving on the award-winning Bell Chimes student newspaper and later becoming its sports editor, where he authored a weekly sports column.

After high school, Joe attended East Los Angeles Junior College. Following his brother’s path, he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps during the Vietnam era. His Vietnam service profoundly affected him leading to lifelong challenges stemming from severe mental illness, most notably acute chronic paranoid schizophrenia. Struggling against these hardships, nevertheless he managed to complete his college education at Long Beach State College and to author a political suspense novel, The Amendment. But as his ailments progressed his life was marked by long periods of struggle, including great confusion, dismay, homelessness and isolation. Still resilient, he never lost his gentle wit, insight, and deep compassion for others, especially those without stable housing. He followed current events closely, loved his country, and remained proud of his service as a Marine. In later years, especially during the last decade, he was deeply grateful for the care, dignity, and kindness shown to him by his caregivers, whose devotion brought him comfort and peace.

Joe loved and was deeply loved by a sprawling extended family that included 48 first cousins and a father, brother and eight aunts or uncles who also survived military service in wartime. His life difficulties reflected the significant lasting human cost born by those we send into combat. Joe was a living reminder of this to those, far too many, for whom war is easy to forget.