There are not enough words for me to use to describe what Roger Snow has meant to me and my family. There are not enough ways for me to express gratitude to the man who literally saved my life. I say this without any reservation or hesitation. Roger Snow saved my life.
To Mary, Gordon, Hanneke, Dickie, Jelmer, Paul, Steven, Junior and the rest of the family I extend deepest condolences on behalf of my family. I am truly sorry that I am away at this time but please know that Roger meant the world to me and I will miss him dearly. It was not easy the last few years watching illness deprive us of the Roger we knew. He can now rest on.
I met Roger in January of 1995 when I was at a crossroad in my life, totally unsure what to do with my future. I was jobless, spiraling into depression and a feeling of complete failure was drowning me. By God’s will an opportunity opened in the night layout department at the then infant Daily Herald. Not expecting much, I viewed it as another temporary job that I would soon leave. As history would attest, however, I didn’t leave soon at all. In fact, I’m still there in some shape or form, 22 years later.
I stuck around because Roger Snow, this impressive, compassionate, witty, unselfish human being made it his business to make me understand and appreciate that my life had worth. He didn’t care what my background was, he only cared that I remain constructively active by involving myself in all aspects of newspaper operations, and with his assistance and influence become a solid citizen and contributor in my community.
He afforded me the opportunity serve as layout artist, graphic artist, night editor and journalist at The Daily Herald. He founded Teen Times, not me, I only had the privilege to guide and develop what he called “Herald’s contribution to the youth of St. Maarten.” From Teen Times to serving on more than 10 community and cultural organizations, to starting my own PR company and all the accolades in between … it all started with Roger Snow. Had he not saved me and given me a chance, none of that would have been possible and God knows where I would have been today.
He was a giant of a man in stature and character. But make no mistake, he was not always a gentle giant and with good reason. There were times he dished out some tough love. Some very tough love. He never sugarcoated anything for me as I was typically extremely stubborn and headstrong. He would often yell “Mike! You are wrong! Get over yourself!” and then proceed to give me the verbal dressing down that I deserved.
One of our “discussions” became so heated in our little office on Front Street, I started to cry. A grown man, I broke down in front of another grown man like a baby. I wasn’t crying because I was hurt or insulted or upset. Tears ran because I wanted so much to impress that man. I hated letting him down. In typical Roger style, he never let you stay down, he found a way to lift you back up.
You know a person has influenced your life positively when you can remember almost everything he has ever told you. Roger’s words have stuck with me throughout my life and I still live by them. He often shared those words while taking a puff on his pipe on our office porch in Philipsburg when electricity went and we didn’t have a generator, or when we were waiting on film to develop, or when we took a break from laying out the paper together which we often did side-by-side. Even in those dark days after Hurricane Luis when we finished work at 7:00 in the morning and he had to drive all of us home.
He cared about my family and my activities. He cared about my general knowledge and saw to it that I was educated in the ways of journalism, human nature, politics, life. He was steadfast in his belief that the newspaper plays a vital role in the community and never allowed me to forget for whom and why we produce The Daily Herald.
Many people have asked me over the years why I’ve stayed loyal or maintained a strong link with The Daily Herald. My answer has never changed: because Roger Snow saved my life. I remained loyal to him, to a friend and mentor.
I will miss my friend and mentor dearly.
Mike Granger
