Mennonite Weekly Review

HARRISONBURG, Va. — It might strike some as gloomy, building a friend’s casket.

Dunkin’ Donuts group members, from left, Harry Showalter, Nathan Zook Barge, Eli Stoll (in front of Nate), Terry Burkhalter, Hugh Stoll and Jay Hartzler with the casket for Wayne Sneary nearing completion. — Photo by Jim Bishop

Yet for 20 people from Community Mennonite Church, it was one of many ways to support fellow members Wayne and Shannon Sneary and their three children, Justus, 11; Jalyn, 7; and Jedrek, 3.

Wayne Sneary, 41, died at home June 2 after almost 10 years of living with a brain tumor. He was buried in a casket made by members of his Sunday school class.

“Wayne had talked some time ago about having a homemade casket, but it didn’t really occur to us then that it might be done by friends at church,” Shannon Sneary said. “This project became a concrete way for them to express their caring for Wayne.”

Sneary sought to make the most of each day as he struggled with short-term memory loss.

Sneary especially found encouragement from fellow members of the Dunkin’ Donuts Sunday School Class, a men’s discussion group at Community Mennonite that met at the coffee and doughnut shop. It didn’t hurt that Sneary seemed to thrive on doughnuts and Diet Coke.

“This group became extremely important to Wayne in helping him find meaning in his illness through this bonding process,” said Terry Burkhalter, a class member. “Wayne’s openness to talk about what was happening to him allowed all of us to reflect seriously on our own lives and mortality.”

Although the tumor’s location affected his senses, with high potential for seizures, and despite a grueling regimen of radiation and chemotherapy treatments and medications, Sneary worked — not always full time — as a builder with Community Construction Co. for many years.

For a long time, tests showed no new fast-growing cells, indicating the tumor had drawn back, although a malignant growth remained.

Members of the Dunkin’ Donuts group reached out to Sneary when seizures prevented him from driving. Burkhalter took Sneary on day trips to scenic and historic places in Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland. Community members also transported Sneary to Charlottesville for radiation treatments several days a week for months.