Born the youngest of four sons, Snow's early teens were shadowed by events in Europe. His older brothers on active service during WWII, he left school at the age of fourteen to help out on the family farm in North Otago. Post-war, he continued working as a farmhand on various properties throughout North Otago. A spell of employment with an Oamaru-based limeworks company led to his introduction to Te Anau where lime was extracted from a local site for use on the goverrnment's farm development scheme that began in 1954. Having bought a section in the lakeside town, Snow was contracted to work on farms throughout the south and in 1962 joined the Ministry of Works as a grader driver. He continued with that job until his retirement in 1988 and still remembers clearing snow on the Milford Road when no other vehicle passed him all day. Snow imparts further details during the course of this interview.