Grounded in community and kindness: Readers share what AC Snow’s columns meant to them
Beloved reporter, editor and columnist A.C. Snow died Friday, Jan. 14, at the age of 97.
He leaves behind a storied journalism career that lasted 70 years and earned him a spot in the N.C. Media & Journalism Hall of Fame and the Raleigh Hall of Fame.
Over time, he built a fanbase of readers, who enjoyed conversing with Snow over his columns and what he wrote. They felt like they knew him, with those readers forming a collective bond with him.
When he retired in 2020, he was overwhelmed by the readers who reached out to him to thank him for his work.
“Now will you answer the flow of reader responses,” he emailed The News & Observer.
A memorial service will be held for Snow Jan. 24, at 2 p.m. at Edenton Street United Methodist Church, according to his obituary. Friends are also invited to gather at The Raleigh Times restaurant Monday at 7:30 p.m.
We asked readers to share their memories of Snow and his columns. Here are some of those tributes.
Squirrels!
What will always make me think of A.C. Snow? Squirrels! Anyone who was a regular reader will remember his battles with the pesky rodents!
Decades ago, when I wasn’t yet subscribing to the N&O, my mom would call me long-distance to read A.C.’s columns to me. I teased her about having a crush on him, and I’m not convinced I was wrong about that.
Mama was not easily impressed by gifts, but when I managed to snag an autographed copy of one of his books, “Comfort Me With Apples,” for her, she was like a little girl on Christmas morning. That is one of the very few of her books that I kept after she passed away. When Mr. Snow arrived in the hereafter, I’m betting my sweet mama was one of the first to welcome him. I’ll miss him, but I know Mama is thrilled to have met him at long last.
— Mrs. Christian Rothwell, Garner
‘Sno’ Foolin’
I always read A.C.’s column going back to when it was called “Sno Foolin.” Back in 2016 he wrote a piece about cars being too smart. I had retired after more than 23 years at NCDOT and dropped him a note agreeing with his assessment, as my Dad was having the same frustrated experience with his new vehicle. AC was appreciative of the note and agreed to meet for lunch.
At lunch he asked about some of my memories of his columns and I told him I particularly remember his young daughter noticing the street sign saying yield to “Presbyterians” instead of pedestrians. I told him it reminded me of when I took my young son to the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences’ visiting exhibit of the Dead Sea Scrolls. As we departed I asked him what he thought and he stated with exasperation “Dad, I looked and looked but did not see any of those dead sea squirrels.” A.C. loved that story and laughed long and hard.
To me, A.C. epitomizes the NC motto esse quam videri“ — to be rather than to seem.” He was a true Southern gentleman, proud of his Surry County roots, grounded in values of religion, family, community and kindness. He wrote from a perspective of how do we protect and enhance our goodness as a people and improve on our shortcomings without attacking each other. Something we definitely need more of today. I hope we have not seen the last of his likeness.
— Jim Trogdon, Raleigh
Building a relationship with readers
A.C. was the greatest columnist ever. He was required reading because of his rare ability to connect with readers like me. I caught myself agreeing with virtually every opinion he expressed on a variety of topics.
I bought his book “Comfort Me With Apples” at a York Elementary fund drive. I still miss his columns, which I really looked forward to reading. I actually hoped he might come our of retirement to write some more.
As much as he loved words, I don’t think I can find adequate language to describe how uniquely talented he was at forming a bond with his readers. I consider myself lucky to have been able to read his observations on life and death and everything in between. He was truly one of a kind.
— Ernest Carraway Jr., Chocowinity
The newspaper’s must-read
A.C. was always my “go-to” whenever I got my N&O. I’d like to feel that we were periodic pen pals. Once, I wrote him about a strange occurrence in our front yard.
I had gone out to get the mail and noticed one of our boxwoods was looking puny, so I walked over to check on it. As I was maneuvering around the bush, it fell completely over. I looked down, and something had severed the bush from the root ball. Not imagining what could do such a thing, I quickly started checking other boxwoods, and found out that the culprits were voles!
At that point, we were looking for solutions. I didn’t want to kill them (I was in the minority in my house). I just wanted them gone. A kinder, gentler treatment was proposed by a neighbor. He said to find all the vole holes (thousands!) and then do this: Get a crew of family and gum, stand there and chew the gum and stuff it down in the holes with a stick! He said that the voles eat it, and, well...
So one sunny Saturday, we were dumb enough to rally the troops, equip them with their tools, and get to work. There were about six of us and we charged the holes.
Well, nothing happened over the next few days, so my husband decided to put a garden hose down one of the holes and flush them out.
As he turned on the faucet full blast, out came a vole straight up in the air and at that point I saw my husband run faster than I’ve ever seen him run. We gave up.
A.C. got the biggest kick out of my adventure and wrote me back. We also corresponded off and on about my teaching career. He loved children and admired and supported teachers.
And for the record, A.C. was not ugly. In his face I saw wisdom, kindness and humor.
My condolences to his wife and daughter and to all of us who admired him so much.
— Anne Huffman, Cary
A shared loss
My heart has broken a little bit more today! Losing a good friend will do that.
Sharing something that broke both our hearts did that in the past. I have a treasure drawer, and in that drawer is a letter with the most beautiful handwriting on it from Mr. Snow. I actually thought Nancy, his wife, had written it.
What made it a treasure was that he shared how he and Nancy were grieving the loss of their precious Melinda. I had written him about the loss of our precious Megan to SIDS. I wanted them to know that they would smile again, just as his columns always made me smile.
He wrote this letter from a place dear to his heart, Salter Path, NC. I know he truly left a piece of his heart there.
There will never be another A.C. Snow, and rightly so. Tears are prayers, and there have been many today.
— Rhonda McNeill, Sanford
Words of encouragement
I read A.C. Snow’s column every Sunday while in college in Greenville, S.C. It was an emotionally tumultuous time for me, and his column both encouraged and eased my nostalgia for home. I can’t remember why I emailed him my senior year of college, nor what I wrote to him about.
But I do remember the exquisite joy I felt at receiving a reply from him; it was just like his column — earnest and heartfelt.
Fast forward 10 years, and I was living back in Raleigh when I found out a friend of mine was his neighbor. After telling her of my enchantment with A.C. Snow, I was invited into A.C. and his wife’s home, along with my mom and infant daughters.
What an honor it was to meet him and his wife. What a well-lived and well-loved man Raleigh has been privileged to host.
— Dawn Dees, Raleigh
A sense of humor
In A.C. Snow’s column on Easter Sunday a few years ago, he began with a humorous complaint about not getting his regular seat at the Edenton Street United Methodist Church worship service because of the abundance of nominal Christians who attend church only at Easter and Christmas.
Another of his stories, which was new to me, was that “hillbillies” are really not that, but “Appalachian Americans.” I felt compelled to write a tongue-in-cheek email note to A. C. paraphrased as follows:
“A.C., you have ruined my Easter. I take pride in telling people that I am a hillbilly from the mountains of Virginia. Some of my Virginia Tech buddies from West Virginia call themselves “Highlanders,” which I was considering calling myself, but now you are suggesting I call myself an “Appalachian American” instead of a “hillbilly.” A.C., you have ruined my Easter.”
A.C.’s response was somewhat sympathetic, but I don’t think he completely got that it was tongue in cheek.
Thank you for sharing this great journalist with us.
— George Deaton, Raleigh
A love for Raleigh
He introduced us to all the characters and street people in old downtown Raleigh, the pool room guys and the lunch crowd, breakfast friends and retirees and young feature reporters like Dennis Rogers and Caulton Tudor.
Our lives are richer for his insights about an earlier, more practical time when the city residents were just country folk who migrated to where the jobs and happenings were.
Thank you, Mr. Snow, for being a huge part of my education and giving worth to everything you wrote about. A life well-lived.
— Joseph G Woodworth, Erwin
Pushing for change
During the late 1990s, I had been diagnosed with having COPD. I was working for the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and was trying to get our workplace to become smoke free.
I was having no success speaking to all levels of management until I wrote in to A.C.’s column. Several weeks later, A.C. wrote a column that described his personal experience of having to go to a meeting at DHHS in the Albemarle Building and dealing with the amount of second-hand smoke.
He then mentioned me and my condition and bluntly asked why DHHS, who was supposed to be looking out for the health of the people of North Carolina, couldn’t make at least one building smoke-free.
Several weeks later, DHHS announced that each building administrator had the authority to make their building smoke free. Thank you, A.C.!
— Bob Breed, Raleigh
World’s Best Boss
As A.C.’s principal editorial writer and copy editor for his columns for nearly all his years as Raleigh Times editor, I worked with him more closely than most. In those 15-plus years, whether it was an irate city council member storming into his office or Wake Commissioner Betty Ann Knudsen bringing a bouquet, he never once raised his voice, let alone showed anger. He was a fine man and the world’s best boss, and even out here in Minnesota, I miss him.
—Ann T. Berry, Minneapolis, Minn.
I worked in the Raleigh Times composing room in the late ‘70s – early ‘80s as a computer typesetter. I was young, and everyone there was very kind to me.
A.C. Snow was going to publish a book of his collected columns, called “A Dust of Snow.” I was assigned to typeset it. Since his wife was famous for proofreading everything, I knew the copy would be perfect, and that my work would be scrutinized. I was careful and did my best and was proud to work on the editor’s book.
Mr. Snow was sweet and humble to work with – as far as I knew, he took no one’s contributions for granted, from the book designer to the cover artist to the typesetter to the pressmen.
I grew up in Raleigh, reading A.C. Snow’s columns. He added so much to reading Raleigh’s life.
— Alice Thacher, Durham
I was a paper carrier for the Raleigh Times as a teenager back in the early ’60s, and I had a lot of exposure to Mr. Snow’s work five afternoons a week. I always gave his column a scan while walking my route, mainly to see if there was something I could get him on.
Finally, one day, I struck gold. In high school, I took several years of Latin, thinking that it would help when I became a pharmacist (I didn’t become a pharmacist, but the effort was worth it).
In Mr. Snow’s column that day (April 15th) his lead was something like: “The Ides of April are among us!” and went on to joke about tax preparation, etc. Well, that same week, we had studied the Roman calendar in Mrs. Fletcher’s Latin class at Broughton, and learned that the Ides kind of slipped around each month, making April 15 the Kalends of April. I believe the Ides fell on the 13th that month.
I wrote him a rather smug letter of correction and complimented myself (like a typical teenager). Imagine my surprise in a day or so when he printed a correction in the paper and thanked me for sending it in. He won a devoted reader and follower for years after that.
He was one of the few that has actually made the world a better place.
— Bill Ingle, Wagram
A love for language
I remember being inspired by A.C. Snow’s writing and his coming to my communications class at N.C. State. He would wax eloquently about the inner workings and importance of local journalism.
His wife, Nancy, taught part-time in the Communications Department where A.C. and other local notables were frequent guests. Together, they inspired me to subscribe to both The Raleigh Times (afternoon paper) and The News & Observer (morning paper), even when I was a struggling college student without much extra.
The Snows’ collective sense of community outreach and mentorship will not be forgotten.
— Steve Duncan, Raleigh
Mr. Snow taught me the value of the Oxford comma. I still champion this valuable extra punctuation. A.C. said to imagine someone speaking the words. The comma goes where the speaker pauses.
Thanks, Mr. Snow for defending the English language!
— Bill Quaintance, Apex
Once Mr. Snow entered his 90s, readers began to wonder what the N&O would do without his column in Sunday editions when A.C. went D.C. (departed columnist). He retired, outlived legions of his fans and the newspaper didn’t fold. At least, not in the same way.
Although I can’t tell it like he did, one of A.C.’s humorous tales was about a well-known professor and his wife. The couple registered at a Niagara Falls inn, where they had stayed many years earlier as newlyweds. A young desk clerk obligingly inquired, “Would you like the honeymoon suite? It’s available!”
The professor sternly replied, “That won’t be necessary,” and the chagrined clerk shot back, “Well, you don’t have to play baseball to rent Yankee Stadium.”
Underlying his ability to fascinate admirers, Snow was also a consummate wordsmith.
— Philip Scott, Durham
I’m saddened to hear of A.C. Snow’s passing, yet smiling inside as I remember my dad’s chuckle heralding that he was about to read aloud a Sno’ Foolin’ column from The Raleigh Times. I was a preteen when I began reading AC’s Sno’ Foolin’ on my own.
It surely influenced my lifelong interest in journalism. His wife, Nancy, a gifted professor, taught my first journalism class at N.C. State, which furthered my early interest.
— Frank Urben, Raleigh
Lessons to live by
After moving from Miami to Apex five years ago, I became a fan of A.C. Snow’s columns . It was a fun ride for me, but I am sorry that I missed all of his preceding years.
I am happy to say, however, that I did learn three important things from him: Optimism and Curiosity are contagious, and good looks are definitely overrated.
— Celia S. Kiffor, Apex
Growing up in the Depression
One of my A.C. Snow memories was his comment in 1999 when Meredith College, of which I am a graduate, was looking for a new president.
He wrote: “In keeping with the national moral climate, which finds us with a Broad and a Hooker at the University of North Carolina system and UNC-CH respectively, a wag suggests that Meredith College, in the market for a new prez, should look around for a Trollop.”
Another memory comes from when I wrote him a short article in the early ’80s about my son being a successful football player at Carolina, despite all the criticism of Coach Crum who was soon to be fired. The timing was just before Mother’s Day, so Mr. Snow turned my tribute to Coach Crum into a tribute for all mothers who sacrificed for their children.
With my age being near his, I could always closely identify with his comments on growing up during the Depression and the character traits it developed.
— Ruth Moss
This story was originally published January 21, 2022 at 1:37 PM.