Making CEU a better place for students
After making students’ lives a little more special each day throughout the year, the College of Eastern Utah community gave back to Robbin Snow when she was diagnosed with cancer recently.
Snow is manager of the post office on campus. Not only is she responsible for receiving all mail and putting it in students’ boxes, she also sends all college mail.
She loves meeting students when they are checking for mail. If there are any whom she talks to often who do not get mail, she makes sure to leave “little things in their boxes.” During holidays, students can find treats as well.
This archived article was written by: Allie Mangum
After making students’ lives a little more special each day throughout the year, the College of Eastern Utah community gave back to Robbin Snow when she was diagnosed with cancer recently.
Snow is manager of the post office on campus. Not only is she responsible for receiving all mail and putting it in students’ boxes, she also sends all college mail.
She loves meeting students when they are checking for mail. If there are any whom she talks to often who do not get mail, she makes sure to leave “little things in their boxes.” During holidays, students can find treats as well.
Not only is she key in keeping the post office running, as a secretary, Snow is a crucial part of the CEU police department. Her tasks are not limited to answering phone calls and taking messages. She deals with parking tickets, completes all crime statistics and other reports, assists Phyl Johnson with grant writing and follows-up with any assignment Officer James Prettyman needs accomplished.
She began working for the campus police department as part of a work-study program while earning her associate’s degree at CEU. When the police department and post office were combined six years ago, Snow was offered a position in the post office as well.
Even though she has been asked to apply for other available positions on campus, Snow has stayed put. “I like the post office. I like being around the students.” She also enjoys the variety the police department offers. She plans on being at CEU “forever. I’ve only been full-time for three years, so I’m gonna be here till I’m 80 so I can get my retirement.”
Before joining the staff at CEU, she worked with the severe-profound children, confined to wheelchairs, at Castle Valley Center. “I loved them. It was a great job.”
As a resident of Castle Dale, Utah, one might find the daily 30-minute drive – each way – mundane and miserable, but Snow does not mind. After all, she has endured this long ride 15 years. She passes the time listening to the radio or searching for interesting scenery she had not noticed before.
Snow’s life seemed almost perfect to her until this past summer when she just did not feel right. For nearly a month she did not feel well and made an appointment with a physician in August to have x-rays done, which came back abnormal. A CT scan revealed that she had ovarian cancer. She was sent to an oncologist and within a week had surgery.
She is now undergoing chemotherapy treatments every three weeks. She will go through six to eight treatments, the last of which will occur in December. Though treatments cause her immunity to germs to decrease and nausea to hit three to four days later, she says her recovery rate is high presently.
As a generally healthy woman her whole life, this has made her realize that “things can happen.” Many friends have shown they truly care about her, by taking her to treatments, bringing her food or simply talking to her. Administrators and staff at CEU have aided her in many ways as well, especially helping her to come up with sufficient sick days to attend treatments.
She is enjoying life with her three daughters, three grandchildren and her best friend, Buffy. Because they live in Colorado and Salt Lake City, she is able to implement her favorite pastime: traveling. Whether she is touring historical sites along the East Coast or merely one state from Utah, the destination does not matter; she simply loves the journey.
After she married, they were stationed in Oklahoma where her first daughter was born. They moved to Gelnhausen, Germany, which is 30 miles from Frankfurt, for a year-and-a-half. Her second daughter was born there. While there, she traveled to Berlin when the wall was still up. Taking the train at night, the curtains had to remain drawn, and security guards with dogs checked the train while passing through East Germany. Snow has long desired to return to Germany, to view the changes it has experienced.
After serving two years in the Army, the couple settled in Emery County where she had a set of twin boys who passed away soon after birth and two daughters. She loves Castle Dale and has lived there 29 years.
