Friends show support to family of Patrick Snider

The family of Patrick Snider received friends during the Visitation held in the Auditorium at North Rowan High School. Patrick Snider passed away Friday after a seven-month battle against testicular cancer. Parents, David and Jennifer Snider joined sister and brother-in-law, Megan and Stephen Johston along with grandparents greeted a long line of friends. Photo By Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post.

The family of Patrick Snider received friends during the Visitation held in the Auditorium at North Rowan High School. Patrick Snider passed away Friday after a seven-month battle against testicular cancer. Photo By Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post.

The auditorium at North Rowan High School was filled with hundreds and hundreds of friends gathered for the family visitation of rising senior Patrick Snider. Snider passed away Friday after a seven-month battle against testicular cancer. Photo By Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post.

SPENCER — High school isn’t supposed to be like this.

Spirit rocks aren’t supposed to become gravestones.

Hallways are for running, not for somber lines of people signing guestbooks and waiting to give their condolences to a grieving family.

A high school auditorium should be reserved for pep rallies, drama class productions and student government debates.

It shouldn’t be filled with stand after stand of flowers, candles and heart-wrenching music.

Yet North Rowan High School — home of the Cavaliers — was the perfect place Monday evening for hundreds on hundreds of people to pay their respects to the family of Patrick David Snider, the 17-year-old rising senior who died last Friday afternoon after a seven-month fight against cancer.

Yes, the perfect place.

You could feel Patrick in the hall, or sitting there in one of the auditorium’s creaky, plywood seats.

You could sense him out back on the baseball diamond, warming up on the mound.

Maybe he was popping into the school office, or standing out on the front steps. He just seemed to be there, and it made things easier for everybody.

“The minute I heard it, I thought it was a great idea,” Patrick’s third-grade teacher, Rebecca Davis O’Neal, said of the decision to hold the emotional visitation at the high school.

“He’s home,” said her former assistant, Loretta Landreth. “This is where he would want to be.”

A long line in the hallway outside the auditorium’s front doors began forming well in advance of the 5-7 p.m. visitation. Monitors at the entrance could only let so many people into the auditorium at a time.

Before going in, visitors were encouraged to take green and yellow bands — Cavalier colors — and part of the Livestrong theme that became the mantra for Patrick Snider.

Everybody also received a glossy card outlined in the school colors, bearing Patrick’s No. 7 from his baseball jersey and a photograph of him in his Cavalier uniform.

Under the picture was a quote from Patrick, coming only a few weeks before he died.

“Had a little kid tell me at the game last night that I was an inspiration to a lot of people... makes me think

... why can’t we all be an inspiration.”

As people eased into the auditorium, they slowly funneled down the righ

t-center aisle toward the family, who made a line in front of the stage.

Patrick’s parents, David and Jennifer Snider, met each person first, showing the same kind of courage their only son had displayed in the months of hospital visits, chemotherapy and radiation.

The rest of the family line included grandparents and Patrick’s big sister, Megan, and her husband, Stephen.

The stage was filled with flowers.

Behind Jennifer and David, a screen showed a constant stream of pictures of Patrick — many from his days as a skinny kid growing up with a lot of friends.

There were Christmas mornings.

Playing in the snow.

Laughing on the beach.

Standing on a mountaintop.

Feeling a pinch on his shoulder during a family portrait.

Playing baseball.

Above all else, Patrick was a ball player.

His No. 7 baseball jersey also was displayed on the stage near a large close-up portrait of him in his ballcap.

Early on, the North Rowan High baseball team entered as a group, paid their respects to the family, then found seats in the middle of the auditorium, staying throughout the visitation.

Many others who went through the line also lingered behind, searching out a seat in the auditorium for a time of personal reflection.

A couple of tables next to the family held some of Patrick’s things.

Frame-by-frame photos of his pitching delivery.

His No. 7 wristbands.

Two of his ballcaps.

His baseball glove.

Carly Landreth, a friend of Patrick’s since grade school, said he has been inspirational to her. “He showed how to live your life,” she said. “He was just a great friend to everyone.”

Somehow this kid and his battle against testicular cancer brought together a lot of people.

There were charity baseball games played for him. No. 7 Patrick Snider T-shirts were sold, as well as green and yellow “P.S. No. 7 Keep up the Fight” wristbands.

The “Praying for Patrick” Facebook group grew to more than 11,000 members.

Make-A-Wish Foundation made it possible in his last days for him to attend an Atlanta Braves baseball game and meet his idol, Chipper Jones.

When word of Patrick’s death reached him last Friday, North Rowan High Principal Darrell McDowell sought a way to reach out to the family without intruding.

Through Corinne Mauldin, a faculty member and family friend, he let the Sniders know the staff and the school itself were available if needed. When the family requested that the visitation be held at the high school, it immediately seemed to be the right location to McDowell.

It would make everyone — faculty, students and the community — feel more comfortable, he thought.

“I’m just glad it all worked out,” McDowell said, adding that the school likely is to pay tribute to Patrick in the coming school year.

“He was a big part of our student body,” McDowell said.

The school’s spirit rock, which had been painted as a rally cry for Patrick, carried a black bow Monday. New paint on the rock had the dates of his life, and on the front of the rock were written the words, “We will miss you.”

A lone bundle of flowers sat on the grass at the base of the rock.

“He was a special part of the North community,” Teresa Doby said, standing up from her auditorium seat and moving toward

the exit.

As he was Monday evening, Patrick’s in a perfect pla

ce now.

Patrick Snider’s funeral will be held at 2 p.m. today at Omwake Dearborn Chapel on the Catawba College campus.

Contact Mark

Wineka at 704-797-4263, or

mwineka@salisburypost.com.