Mrs. Candice Hayes Snedeker Obituary - Visitation & Funeral Information

Candice Hayes Snedeker passed away peacefully on October 2, 2020 after living a full and blessed life. She was born December 13, 1946 in Jonesboro, Arkansas. A doppelganger for Shirley Temple, she grew up in the metropolis of Thayer, Missouri. She would tell her children and grandchildren that her fondest memories were spending winters in Venice, Florida with her mother Valerie Shipp Hayes and her father Paul Winston Hayes. She would attend school there while her father raced Class 2 Hydroplanes all over the country, ultimately becoming a three-time world champion from 1962-1964. In 1965 her parents built the Shangra La Motel in Thayer which they ran until 1983. While attending Thayer High School, she cleaned rooms and waited tables at the Shangri La. Over the years, Thayer High School remained dear to her heart. She was voted Homecoming Queen in 1963 in addition to being named Miss THS, the highest award bestowed on a student. These well-deserved honors afforded her the opportunity later in life to wear her homecoming queen tiara and ride in the class reunion parades at homecoming games. Those who knew her, especially her sisters from the Bridge Club, Pi Beta Phi Alumni Chapter and Sirens of the Sea, know she didn't need a reason to wear a tiara…or drink champagne for that matter. After graduating from Thayer High School in 1964, she attended Drury College in Springfield, Missouri. She was a member of Pi Beta Phi Sorority and drove a Red 1958 MG Convertible with a standard transmission. Not surprisingly, while at Drury she was voted Top 100 Best Dressed College Girls in America by Glamour Magazine and was also a candidate for Miss Missouri 1968. When asked about college, she never mentioned those accolades, she only mentioned that Drury was where she met the love of her life, Larry Haymes Snedeker. According to Candy, he played basketball and had great legs. She went to his basketball games and visited him at the local radio station where he worked reading the local news. A romance and partnership began that would last over fifty years. Larry entered the US Army in 1967 and completed Officer Candidate School where he went on to be stationed at Fort Knox, Kentucky and Fort Benning, Georgia. Candy and her best friend Retha taught 3rd Grade in West Plains, Missouri and anxiously awaited his return back to her. After Larry completed his service to our country, they married and moved from Missouri to Nashville so Larry could attend Vanderbilt Law School. During that time, she obtained her Master's Degree in Education and taught at East High School. The couple made Nashville their home when Larry took a position as Council Attorney for Metro Nashville and opened his own law firm. She retired from teaching in 1976 when she gave birth to her first son, Haymes Sanders. Four years later, she gave birth to her second son Brandt Newell. She was a devoted mother who took her kids on countless trips and to every imaginable sporting event via station wagon. She cherished the numerous times she was a room mother at Harding Academy for Haymes and Brandt. In 1990 she returned to teaching at the Overbrook School until she discovered or better yet "gave in" to her true passion, diamonds. As her second career, she became a certified gemologist. A surprise to only those who didn't know her, she opened Grayhouse Jewelry & Loan on Nolensville Road in Nashville, Tennessee followed by a second store, I-440 Pawn. She was the original "Pawn Star" and very well may have been one of the only licensed female pawnbrokers in the country. If reality TV had existed back then, with her beauty and personality, without question she would have been a reality tv star. Some of her family's best memories are from Grayhouse. She had countless stories about the personalities she would meet and the things they would bring to the shop. Her clients ranged from Grammy award winning country music artists to the mechanic who worked across the street. Her favorite story was when she loaned on a ring worn by Pope John Paul II and on the very same day, refused to make a loan on a live python. She loved showering the people she cared about with gifts, especially her parents. She brought her father to tears on one of his last Christmas' when she gave him a 1986 Silver Cadillac Seville. Her entire family would work by her side at Grayhouse off and on over the next 15 years. She used Grayhouse to educate her boys not just about the price of material things, but the value of hard work, humility and especially compassion. She had an uncanny way of making everyone feel special and loved no matter who you were, where you came from, or what you looked like. She genuinely cared about the people she loaned money to and on countless occasions, would either refuse to foreclose on someone's cherished possession or forgive a loan entirely if the borrower was down on their luck. She would remind her boys that it could just as easily be them on the other side of that counter one day asking for help. The only thing she loved more than her diamonds and flashy, obnoxious hats, were her "three boys" as she called them, Larry, Haymes and Brandt. She was their biggest fan. Nothing brought her more joy than to watch her three boys play golf. Whether it was Haymes playing in junior tournament, Larry playing in the Old Richland Country Club Tea Party, or Brandt playing in The Masters, she lived and died with every shot. She never touched a club, but she was by far the classiest, most beautiful, diamond studded, caddy that will ever grace the hallowed grounds of Augusta National's Par 3 Tournament at The Masters. Candy and her husband grew tired of the long Nashville winters and desired warmer weather and more importantly, to share more of their time with their children and grandchildren. They began splitting time between Nashville and L.A. (Lower Alabama), eventually making Gulf Shores, Alabama their permanent home. She affectionately became known to most, especially her grandchildren, as "Posh" at her request. She said she felt too young to be called Grandma. As you would expect, she made new friends immediately. She became a member of the Garden Club and the Sirens of the Sea Mardi Gras Organization. She looked so forward to riding in her Mardi Gras Parade and attending the ball with her Siren Sisters. She was always the life of the party and lived her life to the fullest. She is preceded death by her parents, Valerie Shipp Hayes and Paul Winston Hayes. She is survived by: her husband Larry Haymes Snedeker; her two sons, Haymes Sanders Snedeker and his wife Amy of Fairhope, Alabama and Brandt Newell Snedeker and his wife Mandy of Nashville, Tennessee; her brother, Shaun Hayes of St. Louis, Missouri and her Grandchildren; Ella Gray Snedeker (14), Haymes Newell Snedeker (12), Lily Hayes Snedeker (10), and Austin Jones Snedeker (8). Following a private service, the family will receive friends on Tuesday, October 13, 2020 at 11:30 a.m. in the outdoor plaza of Saint Andrew by the Sea, 17263 Fort Morgan Road, Gulf Shores, AL 36542. For Nashville friends and family, a Celebration of Candy's Life will be held Tuesday, October 27th, 2020 from 5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. at the Bridge Building located at 2 Victory Ave, Nashville, TN 37213. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Thomas Hospital Foundation, P.O. Box 929, Fairhope, AL 36533.

Mrs. Candice Hayes Snedeker

December 13, 1946 - October 2, 2020

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