Rev. Dr. Dwayne Earl Snell

THE REV. DR. DWAYNE SNELL was born to Marion E. and Ella (Steveson) Snell on August 19, 1936 on a farm near Albion, Iowa. He attended school in Albion and later in Marshalltown, Iowa, graduating from Sunshine Bible Academy now located near Miller, SD. He majored in biology in college, graduating from Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California, in 1958. He went to seminary in Denver, Colorado, graduating in 1961 with a Bachelor of Divinity. Dwayne taught in high school for three years in Hutchinson, Kansas and then moved on to Sunshine Bible Academy to teach math and science. He also served as campus chaplain and for three years as administrator of the school, in addition to his other duties.

On June 8, 1957, Dwayne married his college sweetheart, Jean Batsell in Bay City, Michigan, and this union produced five children, Brad, Drake, Lane, Shawn, and Tamara. After Jean’s death from cancer in 1991, Dwayne married Sandra Rekett on January 1, 1992.

Dwayne left SBA in 1969 to pursue a master’s degree in education at Northern State University in Aberdeen, South Dakota, having been awarded an EPDA (Education Professions Development Act) fellowship. He finished his degree in 1970, and stayed on staff to lead another group through their fellowship. In 1971, he moved his family to Bloomington, Indiana to earn both Specialist and Doctorate degrees in Special Education/Administration, again with an EPDA fellowship. He frequently praised God that He had provided him three graduate degrees with a family of seven without any debt when he was done.

Dwayne’s education career took him to Vermillion, South Dakota, where he taught special education and administration courses for three years. The Sioux Falls school district asked him to be the special education director and prepare the district to implement PL 94-142. He did this until 1981 when he resigned and taught one year at Augustana College, before moving to the Black Hills. Dwayne and a pediatric neurologist opened an evaluation center for handicapped children at a rehabilitation hospital in Rapid City. After resigning from hospital work at the end of 1985, Dwayne began serving The Nemo Church congregation at Nemo, South Dakota, then added The Little White Church congregation in Hill City, South Dakota concurrent for 14 years, resigning from the second one in October of 2004.

He and his wife, Sandy, moved to an acreage near Amiret, Minnesota to be near four of Dwayne’s children living in the area, and in 2016 moved to Tyler, where he resided until his death on Wednesday, January 17, 2018 at the age of 81.

Dwayne was preceded in death by his parents; two brothers; his wife, Jean; and two grandchildren, Hannah and Elizabeth. He is survived by his wife, Sandra; his children, Brad (Denise), Drake (Nancy), Lane, Shawn Whyte, and Tamara; and Sandy’s daughter, Renee (Bryan) Dodson; 13 grandchildren, Jaclyn (Toby) Sunderland, Lance (Jamie) Snell, Jean (Joseph) Parker, Nathan, Caleb, and Sarah Snell, Tasha, Seth, and Bryson Whyte, and Lee, Cheyenne, McKennan, and Grace Dodson ; and seven great-grandchildren, Addie, Corbin, Elizabeth, Hadassah, Evelyn, Ruthie, and Waylan.