Dr. Robert E. Snodgrass
Join us in celebrating Dr. Robert—please share your stories and photos, and help spread the word about this page!
Robert E. Snodgrass, 91, of Greenwood, IN passed away Wednesday, November 10, 2021.
He was born at home in Indianapolis on February 27, 1930, and grew up on the west side of Indianapolis. After graduating from Washington High School in 1948, he enrolled at Indiana University. In 1952 he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Anatomy and Physiology and a Doctor of Medicine degree in 1955. He then served an internship at the old Marion County General Hospital. He then entered the U.S. Army as a captain in the Medical Corps. He spent two years in Taiwan assigned as a member of the unique Military Assistance Group to the Republic of Free China. He enjoyed this important assignment very much. On discharge from the Army, he was awarded the Commendation Medal for Meritorious Service.
He and his wife, Constance, a registered psychiatric nurse, were married in Taiwan in 1958. They then moved in 1958 to Greenwood, Indiana, where he practiced general medicine and obstetrics for six years. He is proud to have delivered many babies at the Johnson County Hospital. In 1967, he completed a three-year residency in psychiatry, his favorite specialty, at IUMC in Indianapolis.
Dr. Snodgrass had a private practice in psychiatry on the southside of Indianapolis for many years. He was board certified in psychiatry by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. He served for nearly 25 years as a volunteer assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry at IUMC. Over the years he served as President of the Indiana Psychiatric Society, chairman of the psychiatry departments at Methodist, St. Francis Hospital and Valle Vista Psychiatric Hospital, which he founded in Greenwood. He left Indianapolis in 1990 and was then employed for ten years as staff psychiatrist at the Madison State Hospital in Madison, where he and his wife owned a historic home built in 1848. He then became manager of an out-patient mental health center in Madison for a number of years.
He enjoyed retirement very much living at Greenwood Village South. Although he was retired, he continued to hold an active license to practice medicine issued by the State of Indiana. He enjoyed traveling, history, opera, Italy and foreign language study (now Spanish and Italian.) Dr. Snodgrass was the author of Beloved Madison, A Pictorial Tour of Indiana's Historic Madison, which contains over 400 colored photos. His message: "If you should have an unresolved problem or condition, please don't ever give up hope. Believe me, help might be coming just around the corner when you are not expecting it. And don't ever be afraid or embarrassed to continue to seek help."
Survivors include his children: Constance Thomas and Bob (Brenda Ford) Snodgrass; grandchildren: Larry (Amy) Thomas and Stephanie Thomas; great-grandchildren: Samantha (Matthew) Thomas-Vest, Anna Thomas and Audrey Thomas. He was preceded in death by his parents and his wife Constance.