Former Newark resident killed in crash

2001 Newark High School graduate, Gretchen M. Snedeker, 24, of Rochester/Lysander, died from injuries suffered in an automobile accident on Thursday in the city of Oneida. Snedeker was on her way to teach a class at Colgate at the time of the crash.

She was three weeks shy of earning a master's degree from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester. An adjunct music professor at Colgate University, she was being groomed to take over as principal horn player at Glimmerglass Opera in Cooperstown. She was already the principal French horn player in two orchestras. She shared her musical talent with people all over the world, traveling to Asia, Finland and Austria.

On Friday, her parents and others remembered a passionate and gifted woman who had a "tremendous, tremendous work ethic."

"Whenever Gretchen played or participated in anything, she lifted the other horns around her," said her mother, Kathleen Snedeker. "She played last Sunday at Colgate University and it was just so amazing. I had to call her twice this week to tell her how proud I was."

Gretchen, an only child, was born in Allentown, PA and moved with her parents to Newark when she was a toddler.

Her father, John Snedeker, said she began playing the French horn in fifth grade.

"She played with Rochester's Hochstein Youth Symphony Orchestra and took private lessons at the Eastman School of Music when she was in high school," he said.

Gretchen, a 2001 graduate of Newark High School, was the valedictorian of her Eastman class, her father said.

John Snedeker said his daughter won several college scholarships to Eastman, including one from the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra.

"Her music was a remarkable gift. Her love of nature was also tremendous," Kathleen Snedeker said. "She was everything that you would hope a young citizen of the world would be."

Kathleen Snedeker said her daughter gave up a lot to further her musical career.

"It was a gift that she possessed from birth, but it didn't come easy. She wasn't the high school kid who slept in on Saturday mornings. She was getting up early and going to Rochester to play."

The Snedekers said their daughter was "blessed with tremendous mentors from throughout the area, and we're very, very grateful for that."

Charles Schneider, music director for the Utica and Catskill symphony orchestras, was one of those mentors. He said Snedeker "truly was one of the rising stars in the entire country. It's so horrible. Everyone in the orchestra is just devastated," he said.

Schneider said he had worked with Snedeker for six or seven years.

"She studied with Julia Hasbrouck-Clay, a longtime member and principal horn at Glimmerglass. Julia had groomed Gretchen to replace her."

Snedeker, of 3324 Quaker Lady Circle, Lysander, was driving south on Route 46, just past Glenwood Circle, at around 2:30 p.m. Thursday when her 1999 Mercury collided with a 2001 Subaru driven by Michael J. Funari, 41, of Devine Heights, Canastota, according to Oneida police chief David R. Meeker. Funari's car veered into the path of Snedeker's vehicle. Both drivers were traveling alone, wearing seatbelts and air bags deployed in both vehicles. Funari, a mechanic for Cole Muffler, was operating and checking a customer's vehicle after work had been performed on the vehicle. An investigation is continuing. Charges are pending.

Arrangements have not yet been finalized.