Gwendolyn Lydia Snoek (“Gwen” or “Gwenda”) passed away peacefully at home in Denver, Colorado on September 2, 2022 after a 10 year struggle with ME/CFS - Myalgic Encephalomyelitis.

Gwenda was born in 1964 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada to parents of Dutch descent, John Snoek (b. 1933) and Tysina Meinders (1927-2018). She graduated from the Paul B Smith Academy in 1983 as class valedictorian and went on to obtain a bachelor's degree in linguistics (cum laude) in 1991 from York University. Subsequently, she worked as a corporate trainer for Automatic Data Processing and Hewlett-Packard.

Gwenda’s children from her marriage (1984-2007) to Gary Schmidt, Eric and Corinna, brought her much joy. With her family she enjoyed traveling, especially to national parks, camping, hiking, biking, and home decorating. She found much pleasure in reading broadly, and in sharing books with her children. Especially memorable are family trips to Pennsylvania/New York, Western Canada, Nova Scotia/Prince Edward Island, and Arizona/Utah/California.

Gwenda also treasured trips with Corinna in later years to Scotland, New Zealand, and Costa Rica. With Eric she enjoyed reading Euclid and Sherlock Holmes and playing computer games (remember Lemmings?).

After a move to Loveland, Colorado, Gwenda obtained her MS (2003) and PhD (2006) degrees from Colorado State University in psychology - cognitive neuroscience. She went on to postdoctoral work at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, working at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience. In 2009, she accepted a position as Assistant Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Hope College in Holland, Michigan, remaining able to work there till 2014.

Gwenda’s academic work and scholarship focused on the cognitive neuroscience of language, using a wide variety of technologies including fMRI, MEG, and EEG. She made small but important contributions to this field, publishing 15 peer reviewed papers about the neural basis of metaphor comprehension and of language comprehension in autism and the broader autism phenotype. She traveled as far away as Japan and Europe presenting her work at academic conferences. As a graduate student and professor she mentored numerous students who went on to successful academic careers of their own.

In January 2012, Gwenda began experiencing strange symptoms. She was eventually diagnosed at the Cleveland Clinic with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis. Her disease progressed over the following 10 years. Her worsening symptoms resulted in the loss of her career and eventually her independence.

Gwenda is survived by her children, Eric Matthew Schmidt and Corinna Erin Kuhn, her son-in-law, Nicholas Kuhn, her father, John Snoek, her sister, Yvonne Snoek Kearns, her niece and nephew Áine Kearns and Aidan Kearns, numerous cousins, aunts, and uncles, and her dear friend Ed Niehaus.

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