James Charles Snell

Jim was born on October 31, 1937, in Oroville, CA, to James and Jeannette Snell. He was the older brother to two sisters, Carol and Sylvia. Jim’s family lived in various places in Northern California, he spent time growing up in Leggett Valley, Fort Bragg, and Daly City, before attending high school in Alameda. In 1959, Jim graduated from UC Berkeley with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and became a lifelong supporter of Cal football.

Following his college graduation, Jim enlisted in the Marine Corps. He served for three years on active duty, including time in Okinawa, Japan, and spent the following 27 years as a Marine Corps reservist, ultimately retiring in 1990 as a colonel. In all, Jim’s service spanned 30 years and was a defining characteristic of his life.

In 1962, Jim returned to UC Berkeley to attend law school. He was a hard-worker and loved the law, so unsurprisingly, he excelled as a law student. Even decades later, Jim could recall the specific facts and holdings of dozens of cases he had studied and would teach the legal principles from those cases to anyone interested.

In the summer of 1964, Jim worked maintenance at Harrah’s Club in South Lake Tahoe and met his extraordinary wife, Ellen Snell, who was dealing blackjack at Harrah’s. The two were married a year later on June 12, 1965, missing their respective college and law school graduations. They then moved to El Cerrito, CA, where Jim spent the first several months of their marriage studying for the California Bar Exam. They later moved to Castro Valley and started their wonderful family with the birth of their sons, Jim, in 1967, and Jeff, in 1969.

In 1970, Jim and Ellen moved their young family to Fremont, CA. Jim loved being a dad, he coached both of his sons’ baseball teams and practically lived at the baseball fields during the season. Amidst all of his travels, interests, and jobs, family was Jim’s number one priority.

It is hard to identify all of the organizations and occupations Jim was involved with over his lifetime. As a young attorney, he worked for the District Attorney’s offices in Oakland and Alameda County. He then spent many years working as a litigator at the law firm of Broun, Norris, King, and Snell.

In addition to a full time law practice and Marine reserve duties, Jim spent decades as a teacher and then department head of the Administration of Justice program at Ohlone College. He also spent decades working for the Mission Valley Football Officials Association as a high school and junior college football referee (as his father had done). He was also the founder and chairman of a community bank and a successful real estate investor. Despite all of these activities, Jim loved to have a good time, and he and Ellen loved to vacation and travel. They went on a myriad of cruises and vacations with their friends and family, with many of the trips accompanied by pre-trip and post-trip parties.

In 1999, Jim and Ellen became grandparents, which was one of Jim’s greatest joys in life. Jim has six grandchildren and is affectionately known by them as Papa Jim. He never missed a grandchild event, and spent hours in the bleachers at water polo games, gymnastics meets, color guard shows, swim meets, baseball games, and more. He solidified the tight-knit family foundation by bringing the whole group to Balboa Island in Newport Beach, CA each summer for more than twenty years. On Balboa Island, Jim was always found sitting on the porch with a book and a cup of coffee, or a glass of wine depending on the time of day. He greeted passersby and cherished time spent chatting with any grandchild, daughter-in-law, or other family member that padded down to the porch to sit with him.

Finally, Jim loved to perform, and he excelled at it. He danced, acted, and sang in plays across the Bay Area, and as an extra in movies ranging from Moneyball to Us. Every Christmas season, Jim caroled with the Lyric Theatre. He recorded audiobooks for the visually impaired with the organization Books Aloud. Jim loved performing even when not on stage, and commanded many a room by telling family stories, drawing out a long joke to give punch to the finish, or reciting poetry or singing song lyrics that somehow perfectly matched the situation.

Jim is survived by his wife of 59 years, Ellen, son Jim (Carol), son Jeff (Cathleen), and grandchildren Katie, Jason, Aya, Shannon, Jimmy, and Delaney. The family plans to hold a service to celebrate Jim’s life on June 22 at Centerville Presbyterian Church in Fremont, CA at 10 am.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Jim’s name to Lyric Theatre:

https://www.lyrictheatre.org/copy-of-join-and-support-1

or Toys for Tots:

https://secure.toysfortots.org/a/honor-memory-greeting-card?_gl=1*b1z7g8*_ga*MjEwMzA3MTk1OC4xNzEzOTAxODc4*_ga_4SS7PGWH6L*MTcxMzkwMTg3OC4xLjEuMTcxMzkwMjIwNi42MC4wLjA