Snoddy, Shirley Benton 


Services for Shirley Benton Snoddy will be noon Monday, September 18, 2006, 
at Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church, with the Rev. J.L. Williams officiating. 
Interment will follow in Jordan Valley Cemetery under the directions of Craig 
Funeral Home. Shirley was born in Longview, Texas, July 24, 1940, to Raminel 
Benton and Margaret Benton. Shirley departed this life on Thursday, September 
14, 2006. Shirley graduated from Longview Negro High School. She attended 
Compton Community College in Compton, Calif. She began her career as secretary 
and library clerk and later received her Texas Professional Certification, 
which propelled her more than 30-year career with the Longview Independent 
School District. Shirley was baptized at Growing Valley Baptist Church at an 
early age. She later became a member of the Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church, 
where she served on the usher board, as church secretary, a VBS instructor and 
on the benevolence committee. She was a faithful member until her health failed. 
She was preceded in death by her husband, Belvin Snoddy; and brother, Raymond 
Benton. Shirley leaves to cherish her memory her father, Raminel Benton of 
Longview; her mother, Margaret Benton of Los Angeles, Calif.; two daughters, 
Cheri Allen of Longview, and Sherri Allen Thompson and husband, Jon, and their 
children, Arielle and Ian Thompson, all of Grand Prairie; two stepdaughters, 
Sharolyn Clifton and Charlotte Ward and husband, Kenneth; and one stepson, 
Marcus Snoddy, all of Tulsa, Okla.; three sisters, Margaret Bennett and Yolanda 
Benton, both of Longview, and Gussie Armstrong of Los Angeles, Calif.; one 
brother, Darrell Benton of Longview; three aunts, Catherine Jeffrey of Dallas, 
Arline King of Longview, and Loma Poe and husband, Jack, of Los Angeles, Calif.; 
one uncle, Earnest Gillard of Arlington; and a host of nieces, nephews, cousins 
and friends.

Published in the Longview News-Journal on 9/17/2006.