The year just ended was marked with the lamentable passing of former Arlington Mayor Pro Tem Bill Snider
While Bill’s lifetime of community service is remembered throughout our city, it’s a personal loss of a good friend who worked closely with me during 10 pivotal years that helped shape Arlington’s future.
Bill’s commitment to public life followed his parents, Dr. Richard and Carolyn Snider, who were elected, at separate times, as members of the City Council.
His grandmother, Helen Wessler, served for some 20 years on Arlington’s Park and Recreation Board. One of the city’s popular parks is named in her honor.
Moreover, the Snider family legacy is traced all the way to the 1800s. And it doesn’t end with Bill.
His son Robert was recently appointed to the Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee among a diverse group of residents and stakeholders who will play a pivotal role in shaping the long-term vision and direction for Arlington’s future development. It will ensure the city remains a vibrant and thriving place to live, work, and play.
One of the leadership roles Bill played during his city council service was as the president of the Arlington Sports Authority, the entity created to oversee the financial management and early payoff of the bonds approved by voters for the development of The Ballpark in Arlington.
Among the most consequential achievements marking his legacy was his management of land acquisition for the development of River Legacy Park – a project that began with a small vacant parcel long held by the city.
He worked tirelessly to turn that into an expanse of almost 1400 acres along the Trinity River that today is the city’s largest park attracting not only countless Arlington residents but also people throughout the region.
It required assembling corporate and individual land owners that held the floodplain expanse between Fort Worth and Grand Prairie and leading them to donate their holdings to the city.
The key element in the bargaining to produce that result was to address the owners’ concern that it all would just remain without public benefit. So, Bill included in the agreement a provision that the land would revert to the various owners if the city didn’t follow through with the creation of a major park preserving its natural beauty and environmental character.
The result includes the fact that Arlington became the first city to complete its eight miles of the long imaged regional trail from Fort Worth to Dallas along the Trinity.
To recognize Bill’s role in making that happen was to name the tributary that meanders through the park, Snider Creek.
His wife, Phyllis, obviously shared and encouraged Bill’s vision for the outcomes he sought and would later become the executive director of the non-profit River Legacy Foundation that created the nature center in the park.
As tributes to him stream across social media, the ones that matter most are from his daughter and son:
Margaret’s: “A man who loved and provided for his family. A man deeply devoted to his community and its betterment. A man of great faith. A man who was honest almost to a fault. A sharp attorney. A zealous polemist. A philanthropist. A dedicated horseman. An animal lover. A bread baker. A life-long learner. A man with a bigger heart than he let on. And my mother’s best friend of 45 years.”
Robert’s: “My dad was many things: ornery yet kind, steadfastly faithful, and devoted in every way to his family, his community and God. He was a loving husband and father who lived his life with purpose and integrity, always putting others before himself. Rest easy, Dad. You were truly one of a kind.”
I asked Phyllis, who helped with reminding me of some of the details shared here, what she would like to see him most remembered for. There were two words: “unparalleled integrity.”
Bill’s legacy will always be a significant part of our city’s history and an essential guide to its future.
Richard Greene is a former mayor of Arlington.
