Loretta D. Snider, Snider Family PBB Collection, 1969-2024 (Scattered), and undated

Summary

Creator:

Snider, Loretta D., 1936-2016.

Abstract:

This collection documents the impact of PBB upon the Snider family of Cadillac, Michigan, and how they sought to understand what was happening to them and raise public awareness to gain federal relief for people negatively impacted by PBB.

Extent:

1.25 cubic ft. (in 3 boxes)

Language:

English

Authors:

Collection processed and finding aid created by Marian Matyn

Background

Scope and Content:

This collection documents the impact of PBB upon the Snider family of Cadillac, Michigan, and how they sought to understand what was happening to them and raise public awareness to gain federal relief for people negatively impacted by PBB. There are two series, the papers John “Jack” M. Snider, Sr. and those of Loretta “Rae Rae” D. Snider, which compose the majority of the collection. The collection, which is organized by size, alphabetically, and chronologically, includes correspondence, medical records, court cases, federal government testimonies, photographs, copies of news and journal articles, and Church of Scientology brochures. Their obituaries are in Box 1 folder 1. Boxes 1-2 are .5 cubic foot letter-size and Box 3 is .25 cubic foot legal-size.

John ‘Jack’ M. Snider, Sr.’s papers consist mostly of correspondence with lawyers and copies of legal documents related to court cases to attain financial settlement for PBB damaging the family’s health and payment for their accrued health bills. This includes his correspondence with then Michigan politicians Speaker of the House Bobby Crim and Senator Jack Toepp, who represented Cadillac, and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. Court cases documented in his papers in which the Snider family sued for damages include Michigan. Circuit Court for the County of Kent, Complaint of many, including John Jr., vs. Velsicol, Farm Bureau Services, Inc., Michigan Chemical Co., et al. 1977, and Supreme Court of Michigan Case No. 60519, related to U.S. Bankruptcy Court. Eastern District of Michigan. Southern Division, Case No. 84-01478-G formerly No. 82-00651-W (Northern Division), Farm Bureau Services, Inc., Debtor, 1983-1986. Original federal testimony of Rae Rae and physicians Stephen M. Soble and I.J. Selikoff, the official record of their testimony, and related correspondence from Al Gore to Rae Rae, as well as related materials of Representative Don Albosta are also in this series. Lastly in Jack’s papers are correspondence with Dun, Schouten and Snoap, Attorneys, re: PBB Creditors Committee Memorandums, Agenda, 1983, including Michigan Chemical Co. Stipulations for PBB Cow Quarantine and Burial, 1975, all related to the Bankruptcy Case, 1975, 1983.

Loretta ‘Rae Rae’ D. Snider’s papers include her correspondence with Michigan politicians U.S. Representatives Don Albosta and James Blanchard, Michigan departments of Commerce, Natural Resources, and Public Health, the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences; physicians, hospitals, laboratories, Pat Kidder of the PBB Action Committee; Michigan Citizens Lobby; and representatives off the Detroit News, as well as multiple teams of lawyers informing them of her family’s health, gathering information, and trying to get their PBB-related bills paid, and advocating for increased government awareness and support of families affected by PBB. In those pre-digital days, she communicated with Joyce Egginton, author of the Poisoning of Michigan (1980), about hotels and their prices near Mount Sinai before she and her family traveled there for medical tests and care. Her search for information to help her family led Rae Rae to gather information from the Church of Scientology on Chemical Purification; PBB information from news clippings (copies) mostly from the Cadillac Evening News, Detroit News, Detroit Free Press, and Grand Rapids Press, and one each from the Bay City Times and Oscoda County News, and journal articles; a cardiologist’s opinion (see the airmail letter and related note from [No Surname] Lynne and Jerry to Mr. and Mrs. Owen Brainerd); and a letter noting how many school days John, Jr. had missed. There is a personal letter from Roxane, then living in Utah, on Halloween 1978, describing her outrage over an enclosed news article from Salt Lake Tribune, October 29, 1978, about how Wexford County Circuit Court Judge William Peterson exonerated the Michigan Chemical Company and Farm Bureau Services, Inc. in the $250,000 suit brought by dairy farmers Roy and Marilyn Tacoma of Falmouth. The role of the Marina Ristorante and Lounge as a meeting place for Schenk’s PBB legal team is evidenced by undated photographs and a 1977 Thank You note to Rae Rae. Also included are May 1978 photographs documenting Rae Rae with lawyers and witnesses, including Marlene (Mrs. Alpha “Doc”) Clark, in Wexford Country Court House, probably for the Tacoma trial. Unique amongst the Clarke’s PBB collections in her papers is a DNR news release on deer hunters and venison PBB analysis, 1977 (in Box 2).

Medical records of John M., Loretta D., and Mark B. Snider are found in four folders in the collection and so noted on the folder labels. In her public federal testimony, Rae Rae also describes her family’s health challenges after they unknowingly consumed PBB-poisoned food. In 2024 Archivist Marian Matyn obtained permission from Mark B. Snider to retain and make available for public research his and his parents’ medical test results. A copy of the permission form is found in each of the relevant folders.

Researchers may be interested in multiple primary source collections and secondary sources in the Clarke Historical Library documenting the Michigan PBB Disaster.

Processing Notes:

A total of .25 cubic foot of duplicates and acidic materials, mostly newspaper clippings and articles, were withdrawn during processing. Photocopies of the acidic materials were retained in the collection. Personal medical records of Jack were withdrawn and those of Rock and Roxanne Snider were returned to them as per their request.

Biographical / Historical:

Biography:

Loretta "Rae Rae" DeJulian Snider:

Loretta DeJulian Snider, or Rae Rae, as she preferred to be called, was born to Rocky and Ernestine DeJulian in Detroit, Michigan, on December 13, 1936. She graduated from Cass Tech High School in Detroit, where she was captain of the cheerleader squad and voted “Most Radiant” her senior year. She was an accomplished singer and ballerina and had her own radio program.

On September 24, 1955 she married John Mansfield Snider of Cadillac, whom she met on the slopes of Caberfae Ski Resort. With John she had four children: Roxane Snider Anderson (1957-), John M. Snider, Jr. (1959-), Mark B. Snider (1961-), and Rock M. Snider (1963-). Rae Rae and her mother, “Tillie,” moved to Cadillac and started the family business there, The Marina Ristorante, located at 2404 Sunnyside Drive. Loretta managed it, preparing homemade sauces, pastas and deserts after Tillie died. The Marina was a gathering place for many in the community and where Rae Rae taught her children and grandchildren values.

Rae Rae was a devout Catholic and proud of her Italian roots, traveling to Italy and visiting the Vatican. She loved the arts and sports, was active in local organizations, and loved to travel. Rae Rae lit up every room she entered. She died on August 7, 2016 and was buried from St. Ann Catholic Church in Cadillac. (This information is from her obituary, a copy of which is in the collection.)

John “Jack” Mansfield Snider, Sr.:

John “Jack” Mansfield Snider, Sr., the son of Lora Holland Snider and Richard Snider, was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on January 23, 1927. The Snider family was from Cadillac where Jack lived and was raised by his paternal grandparents, Edna and Herbert Snider, a probate judge. Jack graduated from Cadillac High School in 1945.

In 1946 Jack was drafted into the U.S. Army. During his service he qualified for the U.S. Army swim team which participated in many international events. He was honorably discharged as a Sergeant in 1948.

Jack graduated with a B.S. in Geology from the University of Michigan (U of M) in 1951. He retired on January 1, 1992 from the Department of Natural Resources after 42 years where he had managed all oil well drilling activities in the Northwestern Lower Peninsula.

During his lifetime Jack was an instructor, historian, airplane pilot, bicyclist, teacher, U of M fan, fisherman, hunter, jock, charming, witty, a dog lover, bartender, and skipper. He competed in various ski races nationally and was a member of the first ski school at Caberfae Ski Resort and one of the founders of the Club. Jack managed Caberfae marketing in the mid-1950s and was a Board member in 1961. He also participated in the AuSable Canoe Marathon several times from 1947 through 1952 with his buddy, Chuck Froman, and in the Annual Paddle Push on the Huron River with his buddy, Bill Dahlquist. In February 1963 Jack won a cross-country skiing event from Cadillac to Traverse City. He sailed in many Great Lakes sailboat races in the 1970s and was involved with the Cadillac Sailing Club in the 1960s and 1970s. Jack saved lives while a lifeguard and managing the oil fields. He served on many committees and boards, notably as a planning commissioner for Cadillac and for the conceptual stages of the Mackinac Bridge. Jack died on November 7, 2023 and was buried with military rites under the auspices of the Cadillac Area Honor Guard. (This information is from his obituary, a copy of which is in the collection.)

The Snider family and PBB:

While there is nothing in their obituaries that connects the Sniders directly with the Michigan PBB Disaster, their collection documents the impact of PBB upon their family and their attempts to affect positive change. For more detailed information about the PBB Disaster, see the other PBB collections in the Clarke Historical Library.

In August of 1982 Rae Rae was formally invited to testify before the U.S. House of Representatives, Committee of Science and Technology, Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversights by then Committee Chair, Al Gore. The purpose of the public testimony was to describe health issues Americans suffered due to various chemicals, how the chemical affected them, followed by physicians explaining why they believed a certain chemical was responsible, to help educate the public and so something could be done to help those affected. In her testimony, Rae Rae detailed her family’s illnesses caused by PBB, especially John, Jr’s., her search for answers, their visits to multiple physicians, medical facilities, and laboratories, and the long-term physical, mental, and financial damage PBB caused her family. Prior to 1977, John, Sr. and all the children were competitive skiers ranked best in the state, the Midwest and some were ranked nationally. In 1977 Rae Rae contacted State Senator Jack Toepp who had Michigan House Speaker Bobby Crim call them. Crim arranged for the whole family to have medical histories taken and blood serum tests, which showed they all had PBB in their blood. Many physicians at the time did not understand the health and neurological impacts of PBB, which meant patients were not accurately diagnosed. The sons were too muscular for fat samples to be taken by suction method. Their physical decline of their eldest son, John, Jr., proved the most serious in their family. The family accrued large medical bills which their insurance refused to pay, about which Jack contacted Michigan politicians and agencies in 1977. The family visited numerous physicians, including Dr. Salvati and Dr. Tom Corbett who was more knowledgeable about PBB at the time than other physicians, hospitals and laboratories, including Advanced Medical and Research Center, Inc. in Pontiac, Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York and WARF Institute, Inc. in Madison, Wisconsin. Rae Rae regularly communicated with Michigan legislators about PBB, especially Senator Don Albosta, who was a panel member and spoke at the federal hearing chaired by Al Gore in which she testified with physicians I. J. Selikoff and Stephen M. Soble.

Rae Rae also gathered information, such as news and medical articles, to try to determine what was happening to her family. In late September 1977 she read an article about how dogs in a Food and Drug Administration test were fed PBB and suffered convulsions and realized that PBB was likely the cause of some of John, Jr.’s health issues.

In 1981, the Church of Scientology sent representatives to Michigan to meet people exposed to PBB to try to convince them to go to California to be “Chemically Purified” in the hopes that they would recover from PBB. Some Michiganders traveled to California to experience the process. The Sniders, who had planned to send their sons to California, were stopped at the last minute from doing so by a relative who was concerned the Church would brainwash them.

Both Rae Rae and Jack communicated with multiple teams of lawyers, some of whom met at the Marina Ristorante and Lounge for strategic planning and interviews. The Sniders were plaintiffs in several court cases including the U.S. Bankruptcy Court. Eastern District of Michigan. Southern Division, Case No. 84-01478-G formerly No. 82-00651-W (Northern Division) against the Farm Bureau Services, Inc., 1985-1986. (The Church of Scientology information is from a conversation Archivist M. Matyn had with Mark B. Snider, while the rest of this information in this section is from the collection.)

Acquisition Information:

Acc# 77804

Arrangement:

Arrangement is by size, alphabetical and chronological.

Subjects

Click on terms below to find any related finding aids on this site.

Subjects:

Food-Contamination--Michigan.
Polybrominated biphenyls--Toxicology--Michigan.
Pesticides--Environmental aspects--Michigan.

Names:

United States. Congress. House. Committee on Science and Technology. Subcommittee of Investigations and Oversights.
United States. Department of Health, Education and Welfare. Public Health Services.
United States. Bankruptcy Court (Michigan : Northern Division)
United States. Bankruptcy Court (Michigan : Southern Division)
Michigan. Supreme Court.
Michigan. Circuit Court (Wexford County)
Michigan. Department of Natural Resources.
Michigan. Department of Public Health.
Velsicol Chemical Corp.
Michigan Chemical Corporation.
Farm Bureau Services, Inc.
National Bank of Detroit.
Dun, Schouten and Snoap.
Weather, Richardson and Dutcher.
Michigan Citizens Lobby.
PBB Action Committee, Inc.
Church of Scientology of California.
Marina Ristorante and Lounge (Cadillac, Mich.)
WARF Institute Inc. (Madison, Wis.)
Mount Sinai Medical Center (New York, N.Y.)
Snider, Loretta D., 1936-2016.
Snider, John M., Sr., 1927-2023.
Anderson, Roxane Snider, 1957-
Snider, John M., Jr., 1959-
Snider, Mark B., 1961-
Snider, Rock M., 1963-
Crim, Bobby D., 1931-
Toepp, John F. (John Francis) "Jack", 1920-1979.
Albosta, Donald J., 1925-2014.
Blanchard, James J., 1942-
Egginton, Joyce.
Kidder, Patricia A. (Miller)
Gore, Al, 1948-
Schenk, Gary P.
Corbett, Thomas H.
Selikoff, Irving J.
Soble, Stephen M.
Tacoma, Roy M..
Tacoma, Marilyn R.
Bahn, Anita K.
Stadtfeld, Curtis K., 1935-

Places:

Michigan--Politics and government--20th century.
Michigan--Trials, litigation, etc.
Cadillac (Mich.)--Genealogy.
Cadillac (Mich.)--History.