Carolyn Snow Dies

December 22, 2005

Carolyn Snow, executive manager of the national non-profit group American Kids Inc., died Dec. 21 following a short battle against cancer. She will be remembered in a memorial service on Dec. 28 at 2 p.m. at the White House Theatre in Branson.

Snow literally touched the lives of thousands of children across the country and helped build a legacy of commitment and dedication to children through American Kids Inc. founded by her husband, Dr. Dale Smith. For a quarter of a century she gave her life to helping children through the nation’s only little league of entertainers. The Smiths moved to Branson nine years ago as a base for American Kids Inc. Through performing arts and entertainment with trained, adult volunteers and a small staff, the group works with children to promote drug-free lifestyles, patriotism and community service.

Snow has a unique list of experiences to her credit, from being the first woman in Oklahoma to be a certified prison guard to winning a CINE Golden Eagle Award for her film Ms 99-128. Having developed a program to bring the arts into a correctional setting, Snow decided that she would understand the role of the corrections officer better if she herself took the training. Following that she wrote the National Endowment for the Humanities guideline on structuring arts programs in a correctional setting. She was also a poet-in-residence in Oklahoma. She co-wrote and produced The Will and the Wind, a musical about Oklahoma which is certified as an Oklahoma Centennial project; Raising America, a patriotic musical, and for the last nine years produced shows for Silver Dollar City. She was writing a book on the history of American Kids and preparing to hand American Kids to the next generation.

Snow was especially pleased the group has been able to give tens of thousands of dollars worth of cash and prizes including a significant number of college scholarships over the past two decades to its membership.