Will Mac "Snooks" Harville October 15, 1929 - April 9, 2002 by Ray Houston
Snooks Harville		Hemerocallis 'Tribute To Kay Day'

Snooks was a lifelong resident of Murchison and was a retired rancher. He was well known for his garden, and was an avid grower and hybridizer of daylilies. He was a member of the East Texas Daylily Society. 

He was a very caring and generous man and was much loved by the East Texas Daylily Society members. Snooks never registered any of his daylilies. However, in 2001 he donated one of his seedlings to the Region 6 Auction, to be named by the winning bidder. Lee Causey was the winning bidder with a $750 bid. Lee and Anita Causey named this daylily Hemerocallis 'Tribute To Kay Day'. The daylily was registered for Snooks by Sharon Umphress.

The following tributes were written for Snooks after his death, and are being reprinted from the Region 6 Newsletter, Summer 2002.

Tribute by Jack Carpenter & Josie Bomar

"Snooks" Harville, age 72, passed away Tuesday morning, April 9th. He had cancer for some time and other complications in the last few weeks. What can one say when a good friend and kind gentleman leaves us all too soon? Nothing really, though our hearts feel the need to do so. We could not say we wished him to stay longer when medical/surgical complications in his life removed from his grasp so many of the things that gave quality to life. So we let him go reluctantly and yet hold and treasure the wonderful memories and times spent together. He is one who shared so much of the beauty of God's creation with each of us through his work with and love of daylilies.

Snooks is the kind of gentleman we long remember and who has that sort of quality that makes all of us the richer for having had a part with him in the scheme of things. Thank you Snooks for adding a little more fullness and beauty to our lives through your personality and work with the daylilies.

Goodbye friend, until we meet again.

Tribute by Cheryl Dungan

It was morning. The telephone would ring. Upon answering there would be the familiar, "I think I've got the prettiest seedling blooming today that I've ever had! If you have time today, why don't you come down and see it." It was Snooks. When these phone calls first started coming, I would wait until I had time to go down to his garden. That was usually in the afternoon, after the heat had already taken its toll on the blooms. I could see the disappointment in Snooks' face when I would show up late and the blooms weren't at their best as they would have been in the newness of the day. So, I learned to drop everything when those calls would come, jump in my car and drive the 3 miles to Snooks' in the cool of the morning. Upon arriving, Snooks would have me join him in his golf cart for a tour of his garden. We would spend hours observing his seedlings. His seedlings were Spiders, Spider Variants, Unusual Forms and tetraploids. We would tout the virtues of this one and talk about the ways that one could be improved by further hybridization. We would talk about his trees, oranges, ferns, Azaleas, Peonies, Hydrangeas, Tamarix, Bird of Paradise, etc. that grew in his lovely garden. We would visit his pond and feed the Koi and gold fish. Such were the wonderful times we spent in his golf cart!

On April 9th, I received that phone call I had been dreading. Snooks was no longer with us. On this date I, along with East Texas Daylily Society and Region 6 lost a good friend. Will Mac "Snooks" Harville was one of those "bigger than life" kinds of people. He was always generous, willing to help, and a very gracious host. You were always welcome at his garden. Many tour buses stopped in to enjoy his hospitality. He donated plants to East Texas Daylily Society, Region 6, and American Hemerocallis Society to give a helping hand to the treasuries of each. His only registered flower, Hemerocallis 'Tribute To Kay Day', was a seedling donated to the Region 6 auction. Lee Causey was the high bidder and was allowed the privilege of naming the seedling. It was registered for Snooks by Sharon Umphress.

Snooks' garden could always be counted on to supply flowers for the Design Section of daylily flower shows, and his Unusual Forms and Spiders were so often just what a design needed. He was always willing to advise any new growers when they had questions and give helpful advice to more experienced growers, as well. Such were the kind ways of my friend, Snooks. Although his garden is still lovely, visits there are no longer the same. He was what made the visits special. He is greatly missed.

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