State Web Site

Military Service: Army

War(s) Served:  World War I

CHARLES WILBERT SNOW, Connecticut's 58th governor, was born on White Head Island, St. George, Maine, on April 6, 1884. He graduated from Bowdoin College in 1907, and earned a master's degree from Columbia University in 1910. He worked as an Eskimo teacher and reindeer agent in Alaska from 1911 to 1912. During World War I he served as an artillery officer in the U.S. Army. Snow had an extensive teaching career, teaching at numerous universities and writing several volumes of poetry. In 1940 he served as president on the Connecticut Association Board of Education. Snow entered politics in 1946, as an unsuccessful gubernatorial candidate. He won election to the Connecticut lieutenant governor's office, serving from 1945 to 1946. On December 27, 1946, Governor Raymond E. Baldwin resigned from office and Snow, who was lieutenant governor at the time, assumed the governorship. He served in this capacity until January 8, 1947. In 1951 he served as a state department lecturer in Europe and the near East. He also served as educational commissioner and chairman of the Middletown Board of Education for more than 30 years, and was influential in founding the Middlesex Community College. Governor Wilbert Snow died on September 28, 1977.

Sources:

Sobel, Robert, and John Raimo, eds. Biographical Directory of the Governors of the United States, 1789-1978, Vol. 1, Westport, Conn.; Meckler Books, 1978. 4 vols.

Wilbert Snow Webpage

The Political Graveyard