Biography

                This is the standard boring stuff you can find out about anybody.  Sorry, there will be no major revelations or surprises here, I’ll save those for Jerry Springer sometime.

Names:  Noble Lee Snaples Jr.

Named after:  Technically I was named after my father, hence the junior.  He was named after our uncle, Noble Warner, so I guess you could say I was named after him as well.

Date of Birth:  August 18, 1968

Place of Birth:  San Benito, Texas

Hometown:  Harlingen, Texas

Parents

                Father:    Noble Lee Snaples.   My father spent most of his life working as a mechanic and provided very well for me and my brother.  He’s always been a terrific father and I love him very much.  It amazes me to this day that he and my mom managed to put both Dennis and I through college without a word of complaint.  I did, however, wonder if I was ever going to get my Bachelor’s diploma back from him.  I would also add that he is a Vietnam veteran, something which I will always be proud of.  He now spends most of his time fishing at Choke Canyon, square dance calling, and tinkering with cars. 

Mother:  Linda Lou Snaples.  She stayed home and raised us for my much of my childhood.  Consequently she got stuck being the room mother and going on most of the school fieldtrips.  It must not have been that bad because she then went on to become a substitute teacher and finally a school secretary.  She is currently the principal’s secretary at Gutierrez Junior High.  She has become influential in the secretary’s association and gets dragged along on my Dad’s fishing trips.

                Grandmother:  Helen Smith.  My grand mother passed away on September 20, 2001 at the age of 80.  She was a wonderful woman and I still feel her loss every day.  She was like a second mother to my brother and I, living with us for almost twenty years after my grandfather died.  She did laundry practically every day of the week and was famous for her pies.  Human history is full of people who spent their lives in this world raising a family under harsh conditions and giving their all to make a better life for the next generation.  Unfortunately, rarely do these kinds of people ever get remembered in a history book, but they should be.  My grandmother was one of those.

Sibling

                Brother:  Dennis Ray Snaples.  Bull, that’s his nickname, is my little brother and currently doing better career wise than his big brother.  After two years at Sul Ross State, Alpine may not be the end of the Earth but it’s not far from it, and then two more at Texas A&I, since renamed A&M Kingsville, Dennis graduated with a CIS degree.  He had a few rough years looking for a job, but who hasn’t, and then wound up working for Drisco Pipe, a subsidiary of Philips 66, and is now doing very well for himself. 

Spouse:  Christina Shawn Mack Snaples.  Actually she normally goes by Shawn Snaples.  My lovely wife is the smart one in the family with a Master’s in Genetics from Texas A&M.  She teaches Biology, Anatomy & Physiology, and Microbiology at Tarrant County College South and Navarro Junior College's satellite campus in Waxahachie.  You can see her web page at http:/members.home.net/ssnaples.

Education:  See my vita for all that stuff. 

Hobbies:  British comedies:  I love them.

  Godzilla movies:  I have an almost complete set.  My mother takes responsibility for this one.

  Basketball:  I’m a lousy player but I enjoy playing. 

 Bike Riding:  Shawn and I do a lot of riding, both road and mountain, and are currently training for a Century, 100 miles, sometime this summer.  We have discovered mountain biking late in life but I am rapidly picking up the scars that mark a true aficionado of the sport.

  Terry Pratchett books:  A great British author with a sense of humor.

 Playing on the computer:  It’s a product of writing all the time.

                Petting the cats:  This is an enforced part of my wife having three of them.  They demand a lot of attention.

History:  I was born in San Benito and raised in Harlingen, they are right next to each other so it’s not like I had to move far.  Growing up in the Rio Grande Valley was an interesting experience, close to the beach and to Mexico, and something I didn’t appreciate enough at the time.  I did all the normal things children raised by loving parents do, I played baseball, I went swimming at my grandparents motel, and had lots of animals.  When I was five years old I asked for a rocking horse and got an Appaloosa filly instead.  I was really disappointed at the time.  We owned three acres of land and had horses, chickens, calves, pigs, and the occasional lamb. 

                In junior high and high school I swam competitively, going to state on two different occasions, but I was never tall enough to be really good at.  After all those early morning practices I went to college and decided I never wanted to get up early again, that hasn’t quite worked out though.  I spent four great years in Lubbock at Texas Tech and met most of the people I consider friends today.  I was already dating Shawn and she was at A&M, so after Tech I went to A&M for graduate school.  We got married in 1991 and have been happy every since. 

                 I was hired by TCCD for a permanent position in the summer of 2002 and we had a house under contract within a week.  We currently live south of Fort Worth in the unincorporated town of Rendon.  Given the choice, I suspect we will be there for the rest of our lives.