Virginia Beach ~ The sun rose for Nancy Ann Dale Snell on January 14, 1943 in Elizabeth City, NC to Herbert Benjamin and Olive Marie Carter Dale and set October 25, 2019 at home in Virginia Beach, VA. She and her older sister Eva and younger brother Buddy grew up on W Queen Street in Hampton, VA. She would jump their backyard fence at the sound of the late bell at Hampton High School. That is where she earned her diploma in 1962. She was an independent, working young lady between then and 1969. She had beautiful, natural red hair (except that year that she was 18, visited her Uncle and Aunt in California, and returned home a curly blonde.) Her dear friend Charlotte (now Weber) introduced her to St. John’s Episcopal Church when she was a teenager and that is where she eventually met and married, with Charlotte, Eva and sister-in-law Agie by her side, a handsome Langley Air Force man, Ralph Stuart Snell. In February 1969, they married and became a team that would last 50 years.  

 She spent the past 38 years with a mission to serve the ministry and as a member of her Emmanuel Episcopal Church family. This extended family also felt her love and loved her in return. It was felt as she explored her faith and especially during her illness.  

 Above all else, her greatest love was her family. She and Ralph nurtured and raised an engineer, a police detective, and a nurse.  And these three children gave them 5 grandchildren that they adored. She marveled in watching them thrive in karate, jazz, dance, baseball, soccer, and acting. Holidays were spent on Queen Street with her mother, siblings, nieces, nephews, and all of their growing families. She loved the beachfront and that is where she spent the last of her happiest of days. 

 She was preceded in death by her parents, brother Herbert Benjamin Dale, Jr., grandparents, and beloved aunts and uncles. She is survived by her husband Ralph, her three children; Susan Kizer (Ed) of Yorktown, VA, Stuart Snell (Lisa) of Virginia Beach, VA, and Hope Wiltse (Matt) of Post Falls, ID. She is survived by her grandchildren Dylan and Ryan Kizer, Kaitlin Snell, and Elizabeth and Diana Wiltse. Also, her sister Eva Wood (Richard), sister-in-law Agnes Dale, nieces Cathy Beasley and Ann Barber (Kevin), and nephews Glen Dale (Linda) and Thomas Dale. So many others she loved, including grandnieces and grandnephews, we wish that we could name them all. Special thanks to Heartland Hospice, Generations Home Health Agency, Virginia Oncology Associates, and the ER staff at Sentara Leigh Memorial, Sentara Virginia Beach, and Sentara Princess Anne hospitals.

A memorial service and celebration of life will be held on November 9, 2019, at 1:00pm at Emmanuel Episcopal Church, 5181 Singleton Way, Virginia Beach, VA.