• SEVEN DAYS

Jordan Snow died unexpectedly on July 1, 2021, at the University of Vermont Medical Center in Burlington, Vt.

He was the husband of Mary (Donahue) Snow of Norton, Mass., and the son of Tracey (Lertola) and Danny “Myk” Snow of Proctor, Vt. He was born in Birkenfeld, Germany, on March 4, 1990. He was 31 years old. We didn’t have him as long as we wanted, but we had to let him go.

He lived in Germany until 1999, when he moved to Proctor, Vt. He attended Proctor schools, graduating from PHS in 2008 with three Phantom basketball championships under his belt and an acceptance to Berklee College of Music in Boston, where he graduated with a performance degree in 2012. He acquired some masterful music skills there and met his future wife, Mary.

He performed with his dad, Myk, and many other musicians and bands in the local Rutland/Killington area throughout his high school and college years, as well as branched out to solo guitar gigs. He started gigging early, at 15, and never looked back. Music was a monumental part of his life, and he shared it with us whenever we asked him to.

He spent a year teaching music lessons on Ramstein Air Base and playing drums with his dad and friends in Germany before joining the U.S. Marine Corps, graduating from Parris Island in January 2014.

He was stationed with the Quantico Marine Corps Band in Quantico, Va., until he separated from the service in late 2017. While there, he had the opportunity to travel in the U.S. and abroad, flourishing as a percussionist, vocalist and, in his last official parade, as the drum major for the band. Semper fi, Sgt. Snow. We know how proud you were to wear that uniform.

When he returned to New England to settle in Massachusetts with his wife, Mary, he performed at local venues. Wanting to continue to serve his country, he joined the Vermont Army National Guard’s 40th Army Band as a percussionist. He was promoted to staff sergeant in January 2021. Traveling to North Macedonia to work with the band’s sister Guard unit was one of the highlights of Jordan’s career there.

More recently, he was called up to active duty in Vermont in March of 2020 to help with building and staffing the COVID-19 field hospital at the Essex fairgrounds, and again this March to help at COVID-19 vaccine sites. He was proud to serve Vermont in any capacity. At the same time, he was also studying remotely on his BS/MS in social work, hoping to counsel veterans at the VA.

Jordan is survived by his wife, Mary, of Norton, Mass.; his parents, Tracey and Mick Snow, of Proctor, Vt.; his maternal grandmother, Jean Lertola, of Proctor, Vt.; his uncle, David Lertola (Dyanne), of Pittsford, Vt.; his cousin, Brett Lertola (Jessie), of Ira, Vt.; his in-laws, Gary and Nancy Donahue, of North Easton, Mass., who thought of him as their son and not a son-in-law; a special great-aunt, Mary Fregosi, of Proctor, Vt.; and many other great-aunts and -uncles and cousins.

He is predeceased by his grandfather CSM Louis D. Lertola; grandmother Jean Jacobs and grandfather Henderson Jacobs; and a cousin, Justin D. Lertola.

Jordan was the joy and light of his family. He loved all his family and friends with a depth and passion that will be so missed. He was a kind, generous soul who was always there for others. Within him, there was such a capacity for giving, whether it was advice, a ride, a hug or a song. As Fred Rogers said, “The connections we make in the course of a life — maybe that’s what heaven is.” Jordan made his heaven here in the connections he made with us all. Now he has his peace.

If you or anyone you know is in crisis, you can call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1-800-273-8255, or text TALK to 741741.

Memorial contributions can be made to Music Therapy of the Rockies, (musictherapyoftherockies.org), an organization that supports the needs of veterans with music therapy, believing that “music can reduce the stigma of finding that valued support.”

Wake and funeral arrangements are pending, with more information to follow. Arrangements are with the Aldous Funeral Home in Rutland.