Phoebe Ann Snapp was born on January 17, 1928

Phoebe Ann Snapp was born on January 17, 1928 to Luther & Beatrice (Hurd) Sims. She grew up in the Mildred area and graduated from Forsyth High School.  She met Irven Snapp in Kirbyville and they were married on June 22, 1946 at the Old Stone Church in Branson.  They were blessed with six daughters, Jerrie, Sherrie, Susan, Mary, Kem and Amy.  Phoebe was a hardworking and loving mother.  She ran her home, cared for the girls and worked waitressing tables at Town & Country Restaurant in Branson.  She was an amazing seamstress and would make clothes for her daughters.  She was also an amazing baker and always had a delicious pie waiting for Irven when he came home from trucking.

Irven and Phoebe started Branson Monument Company next to their home on what is now Branson Landing Boulevard.  Along with selling and designing monuments, Phoebe also kept the books for Irven’s trucking company.  In 1957 they purchased Ozarks Memorial Park Cemetery from Claude and Dorothy Binkley and moved the monument shop next door to the cemetery in 1972.  Phoebe was instrumental in starting Snapp-Bearden Funeral Home in 1984 and had just recently retired her funeral director’s license.

Phoebe was a farmer and raised beef cattle in Taney and Christian counties.  She loved time at the farm and never met a tractor she couldn’t get stuck somewhere. She instilled her work ethic in her girls and grandchildren.  She was tough but giving and her word could be counted on.  She was a faithful follower of Christ and her daughters remember her late night Bible reading as she waited on them to make their curfews.  She and Irven had been members of St. James General Baptist Church until the late 1960s and then began attending Branson Bible Church across from their home in Branson.  They moved to Springfield in the late 1990s.

Phoebe loved to travel.  She had been all over the United States, some trips with Irven and some with her daughters.  She had also been to Canada, Ireland, the Panama Canal and Nicaragua. She loved time with her family especially her grandchildren.  You could be certain as a grandchild that if you stayed with her you could only drink milk and if it was Christmas, there would be a tinsel covered cedar tree from the farm.  Later in life, she never let a Snickers or Coke far from her sight.  It was her snack of choice on a trip to the farm.

Phoebe entered into rest on Wednesday, January 26, 2022 at her home in Springfield.  She had just turned 94.  She is not here with us physically any more but has left a legacy of wisdom and knowledge with her family that came from living a long and full life.

Phoebe was preceded in death by her parents; husband, Irven; sisters, Ida Mae Sims and Virginia Hirahara; her daughter Sherrie Dozier Bosworth and son-in-laws, Norman Finn, Ronald Dozier, Charlie Scaggs and Hugh Bosworth.

She is survived by her daughters, Jerrie Wise (Larry) of Neosho, MO, Susan Bearden (Darrel) of Branson, Mary Scaggs of Springfield; Kem Adams (Rick) of Springfield and Amy Whorton (John) of Brushyknob, MO; seventeen grandchildren, 33 great grandchildren and seven great-great grandchildren.

Funeral services will be Sunday, January 30 at 2:00 PM in Snapp-Bearden Funeral Home and Crematory, Branson.  A video tribute of her life will begin at 1:15 and friends are invited to attend.  She will be entombed at a later date in Ozarks Memorial Park Cemetery, Branson.

Memorials are requested to the Gideons International, P. O. Box 1202, Branson, MO 65615 in Phoebe’s memory.