Snow remembered as loving mentor

PROVO — One of the first calls made by Brigham Young University President Cecil Samuelson after he learned former BYU vice president R.J. Snow had died in a car wreck last week was to Snow's boyhood friend, Elder Jeffrey Holland, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Reuben Joseph Snow and Holland's older brother were the same age and so close that Elder Holland considered Snow his second older brother as the three grew up in Pine Valley, Washington County. It was Snow who first attempted to teach Elder Holland to ride a horse. The attempt was unsuccessful and the subject of teasing for more than 60 years.

"When a light like Reub's goes out, for just a moment it seems like the whole world has gone dark," Elder Holland said Monday during a memorial service for Snow. "Of course, I'm quick to say R.J.'s light has not gone out, that it is my witness it's moved on to a larger sphere in a higher firmament where he can help more people."

The service drew hundreds of friends as diverse as Judge Tom Griffith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, University of Utah President Michael Young and Weber State University football coach Ron McBride, a former coach at the U., where Snow served as a vice president over sports.

Many came from overseas and out of state — from South Africa, where Snow had served as an LDS mission president; from Japan, where colleague Bud Scruggs was when he learned of the accident; and from California, where Steve Cleveland is Fresno State's basketball coach. Snow played a role in hiring Cleveland to coach at BYU when Snow was a university vice president over athletics.

"He gave me the opportunity to be a Division I head coach," Cleveland said after the service before heading to lunch with BYU men's basketball coach Dave Rose, who said he believed each of the people who attended the service could tell a story about how Snow had helped or mentored them.

Snow's interment took place Saturday at a family plot in Pine Valley. The event was poignant — held the same day Snow had planned to take part in blessing his 2-month-old granddaughter, Julia.

"His last big project," said Julia's mother, Brittany Snow, "was making arrangements for her baby blessing in the Pine Valley Chapel. We carried them out an hour before his graveside service."

Snow's son Scott called his father "an anchor in our lives" who championed women and always advised his children to keep their knees flexed, ready to move in any direction so they could take advantage of every opportunity life afforded.