His mother was 23 years old when she had him in 1918 at the St. Lawrence Hospital in Lansing, Michigan. Her name was Eva Schmit, and she was married to a local businessman Bern Snyder. During his birth Bern named his son Michael after his father who had been an official in the Dutch government. After three years Michael had reached the ripe age of 5, while his sister was 4. Eva started teaching him the basics of math and english, in the upper apartment of their shop. Bern had continued on with his now flourishing business making his family join the upper-middle class.