Recently, I got this nice email from Dr. Richard Snouffer whose grandparents owned a cottage on Sweezey Lake. I think you'll enjoy his rememberances of his time on our wonderful little lake.

Michael Sarnacki, Editor



The Rememberances of Dr. Richard Snouffer

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I was pleased to find the Sweezey Lake Web site. My paternal grandparents used to own a cottage on Sweezey, and I was blessed to have spent time up there when I was a child, and during my early adolescence. Their names were Elmer and Dorothy (Peg) Snouffer. I'm not sure when they bought the place, but they had it since before I could remember, at least since the late 1960's.

It was very nice to hear that Sweezey is still pretty much unspoiled. It is good to know that one's memories have not been blotted out by the inexorable march of the machines! (That some mistakenly call "progress.") I was especially pleased to learn that no one had begun replacing its beautiful little cottages with giant "Mac-Mansions" or slapped a big marina on this unspoiled little lake, either of which would ruin its intimate character as well as its peace and beauty.

I always loved "The Lake" as our family affectionately referred to it, in much the same spirit that folks from around Mount Rainier, Washington, call it "The Mountain." I have always liked pontoon boats because of Sweezey Lake. Spending time at The Lake was always joyfully anticipated.

Even the ride up from Toledo was special. The quiet two-lane highways; the rolling country fields; crossing the River Raisin and the inevitable puns its name always inspired; the ice cream stand perched above the river, where we occasionally ate ice cream while looking straight down on the river; the "tree tunnel" where branches overhanging the narrow road met, creating a cathedral-like atmosphere for one segment of the trip. All of these things combined to let us know that something special was coming.

Our family came together up at The Lake. My father's family was not naturally a very harmonious one. However, at The Lake, adult brothers who had not otherwise spoken in years, laughed easily, fished and picnicked together. Much of the tension and bickering usually present in other family gatherings was missing at The Lake.

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Of course, it was not perfect. I remember one time when I was about 8, fishing with a cousin down by the dam. We had walked there from the cottage. I hooked a pretty good fish and was fighting it in. When my much-older cousin saw how big it was, he took his fishing pole and began hitting the water where my line met it until I lost the fish. He thought that was funny as heck, but it was the biggest fish I'd ever fought. Took a little while to get over being mad about that!

My last memory of Sweezey was in 1980, when I was 12. My father had passed away the previous January. That summer we spent more time up at The Lake than ever before. It was a bittersweet memory, but Sweezey's pure beauty was such that the summer of 1980 will always be counted among my blessings. Appropriately so, it did aid the beginning of the healing process.

Sadly, for reasons of sorrow at losing their son, combined with age and the desire for warmer winters, my grandparents had to sell their cottage soon after that bittersweet summer, and it remains my last memory of your wonderful lake.
I can still smell the wonderful, special smell of the interior of that cottage, a mixture of often closed-up house and fireplace wood smoke, combined with traces from my grandfather's homemade sausage and pancakes of breakfasts past. It's hard to believe that it's been almost 30 years.

If only they could have waited a few more years to sell it until I was grown up. I'd have given up much to be able to keep and maintain the family cottage. I hope to someday share the treasure of "The Lake" with my wife and children somehow, and introduce another generation of Snouffers, even if only briefly, to its special charms.

You have a tremendous blessing in that wonderful lake. I pray that all involved will continue to recognize that, appreciate it and do whatever it takes to protect and maintain the special beauty, intimate character and peace of that place, and of the woods around it.

Richard Snouffer, MD
(Currently residing) Alabama, USA

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Richard Snouffer, MD, is married to his wife Lori who is a former elementary school teacher and is currently a full-time mother and homemaker. They have 3 daughters, Emily 5, Elizabeth 2, and Catherine 1 years old, respectively.

Dr. Snouffer graduated from Tiffin Calvert High School and Heidelberg College in Tiffin, Ohio. He graduated medical school from University of Cincinnati, College of Medicine in 1994. He served 5 years as a physician in the US Army as an Emergency medical physician and as the Brigade Surgeon for 3rd Brigade/3rd Infantry Division. He was honorably discharged in 1999.

He worked as an Emergency Room physician in various ER's throughout Georgia for 12 years and is currently boarded in Urgent Care Medicine. He has worked in Oxford Alabama in an Urgent Care/Family Medicine Clinic for the last 3.5 years.

Interests include: Spending time with family, fishing, hunting, photography, golf, tennis, reading, swimming, etc.

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