The Sneads are a URI legacy family headed by James (Jim) and Mary, Class of 1974; all five of their children are connected to URI.
A football player. A sorority sister. A fraternity brother. A graduate student. A Special Olympian. Business and African-American studies majors. Each represents a unique experience at URI, but collectively this group shares a familial bond.
The Sneads are a URI legacy family headed by James (Jim) and Mary, Class of 1974. All five of their children are connected to URI. Jimmy, the eldest, began his college studies in Kingston. Although he finished elsewhere, he joined TKE and maintains friendships with his fraternity brothers. Sam ’05 earned a graduate degree in community planning, and Jeremiah and Elisabeth are current students. Joshua is a Special Olympian who competes at the annual State Summer Games held in Kingston.
Jim Snead, the family patriarch, began forging this strong link at the urging of his uncle, Louis Francis ’71, but admittedly considered other options: “I wasn’t interested in college. My father was a landscaper, and I knew I could always do that.” His persistent uncle convinced him that college was the better alternative. Jim does not hesitate when asked if he made the right decision: “It’s an amazing thing to go to college.”
He excelled on the football field (All-time Letterman) and on the wrestling mat. In his senior year, the football team tied for the Yankee Conference Championship, earning the athletes a trip to Germany, where they played the U.S. Air Force’s All-Star team.
Beyond the athletic accolades, Jim’s life-changing experience occurred when he met Mary, an Alpha Chi Omega sorority sister whom he married before graduation. They soon started a family. “I had little Jimmy in my arms at graduation,” says Mary. Jim and Mary used their physical education and nursing degrees, respectively, to build a nurturing home for their son. Jim taught in Providence, and Mary worked at a local hospital.
While Jim enjoyed his job, it was difficult to support a family on a private school teacher’s salary: “I gave up teaching and held a series of jobs, working as an assistant manager of a finance and loan company, as an alcohol counselor, and as a community center director. Initially it was discouraging. After graduation, I expected to make money right away. Then I realized that I could not have held those jobs without a degree.” Jim returned to teaching and is now on the faculty of Providence’s Mt. Pleasant High School. Last year, he earned a master’s degree in instructional technology from Grand Canyon University Online.
Like Jim, Mary followed a varied career path as she juggled the demands of a growing family that included their son Joshua, who has Down Syndrome. She found a balance at a local church that ministered to Haitians. “For 19 years, I worked with the parishioners, assisting them with social services, and took care of my own family at the same time. My kids went to Bible studies at the church and participated in church activities.”
As her children grew older and more self-sufficient, Mary started working as a nurse again, first in community agencies and later for Rhode Island’s Institute of Mental Health. After she had served as assistant director of nursing at the IMH, Mary was asked to work with incarcerated adults who were HIV positive: “The AIDS epidemic was here, and the state tapped me because I was a nurse with research and writing skills who had experience with difficult populations.”
Having raised a family of five, Mary was no stranger to challenging situations. She accepted the position, and working with doctors from Brown University and Miriam Hospital, she treated patients and studied this confounding disease: “We were fighting a battle to control it without making the body resistant to treatment.” Their efforts were successful: “When I left, it was a whole new world. Sick people were much more stable. The crisis was over.”
Having faced a challenge many people would have avoided, Mary assessed her future: “The kids were at the point where I could do something different, so I earned a master’s degree in special education from Grand Canyon University Online. Because of Joshie, I always respected special ed teachers.” This fall, she completed her student teaching assignment and became a certified special education teacher.
As Mary pursued graduate studies and Jim continued to enrich the lives of young people as a teacher and as a wrestling coach through his academy, Providence Wrestling Club, their children faced college choices. “We influenced our kids to go to URI,” says Mary. “Your best programs are in the state,” echoes Jim.
Sam was interested in URI but instead attended Brown, where he studied urban design, played football, and wrestled. After graduation, he secured an internship analyzing industrial properties throughout the state and began taking graduate courses at URI. Encouraged by Professor Marcia Feld and with assistance from a Graduate School Minority Fellowship and the Arthur D. Jeffrey Memorial Scholarship, he matriculated and earned his M.C.P. degree.
Sam found a job at the Boston Metropolitan Planning Organization managing the Transportation Improvement Program budget. His responsibilities included reviewing funding requests for transportation projects from metro Boston communities. Late last year he moved to California, where he is now a transportation planner for the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Department of Planning and Programming.
Despite his demanding career, Sam is discovering his inner thespian. Cast as a gangster in an episode of Brotherhood, a Showtime series filmed in Rhode Island, Sam is now pursuing other opportunities. A casting agent helped land him a role as an NFL player in The Game Plan, a movie starring The Rock. Production began last fall at Gillette Stadium, home of the New England Patriots. And now that he has relocated, he is doing some modeling and acting on the West Coast.
Fifteen minutes of fame or future Oscar winner? It’s impossible to predict, so Sam is just enjoying the moment and is ever mindful of the impact URI has had on his family: “URI has been an anchor for my family. I just want to thank the University for all it has given us.”
Photo Courtesy of the Snead Family
