Obituary: samuel moon snipes, 99, of falls

FALLS TOWNSHIP, PA — Samuel Moon Snipes, born Aug. 15, 1919, died at his home at Snipes Farm, Morrisville, Pa., on Monday, Dec. 31, 2018. He was 99. He was a ninth generation Bucks Countian,

and co-owner of the Snipes/Moon farm in Falls Township, where he was raised and lived most of his life. He attended Fallsington Friends School, Fallsington Elementary School, Westtown

School, and graduated from Haverford College in 1941, where he lettered in track and football and was student body president. During World War II, Sam served his country for four and a half

years as a religious objector to war through Civilian Public Service, battling forest fires in North Carolina and the Sierra Mountains of Nevada as well as serving with the health service in

Florida. After the war, in 1946 and 1947, he worked for the United Nations in Germany helping relocate refugees, including escorting trainloads of displaced persons returning to Poland and

Hungary through Russian lines. He graduated from Temple Law School in 1953 and practiced law in Yardley, Pa. for 50 years, specializing in estate planning and civil law. He was Falls

Township solicitor on and off for 30 years. He was a lifelong member of Fallsington Friends Meeting (Quakers) and served on the boards of Historic Fallsington, Pennsbury Society, Bolton

Mansion, George School, Haverford College, Friends Fiduciary, William Penn Center, Falls Township Democratic Committee, Pennswood Village, Bucks County United Way and Morrisville Historical

Society. Sam was named a Paul Harris Fellow as a member of the Morrisville Yardley Area Rotary Club. Sam was the attorney for William and Daisy Myers, the first African-American family to

buy a house in Levittown, Pa. in 1957. He lobbied Pennsylvania officials to protect the Myers’ civil rights and personally held off a mob that threatened the Myers’s home. In 1967 Sam

represented clients opposing the Centennial School District’s distribution of Gideon bibles to students. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled against the School District, upholding the

separation of church and state. In 1972 Sam, as Falls Township Solicitor, thwarted the attempt of PSE&G electric company to build a nuclear power plant on Newbold Island in the Delaware

River near Pennsbury Manor. He inspired his family and friends to involve themselves in local community life, and to be concerned for issues of freedom and justice around the world. Sam and

his horse and carriage were a ubiquitous presence in numerous parades, including annually transporting George Washington from the Delaware River to historic Summerseat in Morrisville. He was

co-author and editor of The History of Falls Township 1692 - 1992. He was preceded in death by his first wife of 52 years, Barbara, in 2001, and his son, Howard, and daughter-in-law, Susan

Durnford, in 1989. Sam is survived by his wife, Marion; his children, Deborah, Sally, Susan (Tom Wells), Samuel Jr., and Jonathan (Melanie); nine grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday, March 9, at George School Meetinghouse, 1690 Newtown-Langhorne Rd., Newtown, PA 18940. Memorial donations may be made to Friends

Committee on National Legislation or to Snipes Farm and Education Center, a 501C3 nonprofit organization (Farm Day Camp scholarship fund). -------------------------