IVINS — Stan Snow looks forward to the end of summer because that’s when Dixie State University teams start playing again.
He’s a big fan of the Dixie State Trailblazer teams, especially the basketball team. But until the basketball season starts, he’s just as happy to watch the action on the gridiron.
He’ll proudly wear his red jacket and ball cap to the Trailblazers’ first home football game Saturday against Fort Collins.
A former distance runner, he even has a 5K run named for him at the Southern Utah Veterans Home in Ivins where he is one of the original residents. The 5th annual Stan Snow Fun Run will be held next May, at the veterans home.
“The winner gets a root beer float. Everybody that participates is a winner and gets a root beer float,” Snow said with a big smile.
When he was 57, Snow decided to take up distance running and completed a marathon race in St. George in 1990.
“I was getting along in years then,” the now 85-year-old said. “It took me a year to get ready for it. I remember the first mile I ran. I thought I was going to die.”
After that initial run, the only full marathon he ever ran, he said he followed that up with several 5K and 10K races.
He played in a church basketball league in his younger years and that has made him a big fan of the teams at Dixie State University. A picture of him with the 2017 basketball team is proudly displayed on a wall in his room.
“I tried playing football, but I didn’t have very athletic knees,” he said. “But I love basketball.”
Snow is considered one of the elder statesmen at the veterans home and was among the first to take up residency there when the home opened its doors five years ago.
“I opened this hall. Only one guy has lived in this room and that’s me,” he said. “The next place I’m going to is out the back door, but that’s a long way off the way I feel right now.”
He remembers moving into the veterans home Sept. 13, 2013, and the exact time he suffered a stroke that left him partially paralyzed on his left side and forced him to move into the veterans home.
“It was 3 a.m., July 16, 2012,” he said without hesitation. “I got up to go to the bathroom and fell down. I got up and fell down again. I got up and fell down again. I finally woke up Betty, my wife, and told her to call the EMTs because I had a problem.”
Snow was a certified public accountant in Twin Falls, Idaho, for 43 years before retiring April 15, 2001.
“I threw my son the keys and said ‘see ya’ and came home,” the St. George native said.
Four of his five children followed him into the CPA or financial fields. He called his one son, who became an electrical engineer, the “maverick” of the family.
“I enjoyed going to work,” he said. “In 1990, I quit wearing a white shirt and tie. I got to thinking, my clients didn’t wear a shirt and tie, so I decided not to as well. I started wearing polo shirts.”
When he talked with St. George News, he was waiting to meet his wife of 65 years, Betty, for lunch. She lives in Pine Valley but visits him often either at the veterans home or at an area restaurants.
“She’s meeting me at China Garden. She’s buying lunch,” he said with a chuckle, “She has the money.”
His military career in the U.S. Army was brief and spent mainly in Hawaii.
“I was on a plane headed for Korea. When we landed in Hawaii, they said they needed me in the supply depot there and I got off the plane. I was there almost three years. Never did get to Korea,” he said.
Although he didn’t see combat action as a member of the 14th Regiment of the 25th Division, Snow said he’s glad he was able to serve but avoided a lot of the war.
“After hearing some of the stories of these guys, I’m glad I missed that part,” he said.
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