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Woman holds community award

Marilyn Snedden – Outstanding Senior Citizen Award

This recognition of Marilyn Snedden has been more than 60 years in the making. There isn’t a corner of Mississippi Mills that hasn’t been touched or benefitted from her contributions.

Marilyn wears many hats – farmer, historian, genealogist, curator, fundraiser, author, musician, feminist, board member, sportswoman and of course, dedicated volunteer.

She began her community involvement at a young age through 4-H and Junior Farmers. In the 1960s, she dedicated her time to raising her four children and helping to run the Mississippi Holsteins dairy farm. The evenings would be reserved for her writing and volunteering.

Genealogy has long been a passion of Marilyn’s, who served three terms as President of the Lanark County Genealogical Society. In the 1990s, she helped create Archives Lanark, dedicated to preserving the area’s original historic documents. She still assists at the Archives today.

Her love of history led her in several directions – as an author of several books, including “The Snedden Saga” and “The Robertsons of Ramsay,” as well as a series on rural schools in Lanark County; and an over 50-year involvement in the Ramsay Women’s Institute. Marilyn remains the curator of the Tweedsmuir Histories, compiled by the Women’s Institute.

Not one to sit idle, Marilyn is always eager to take on more. She currently chairs the local Ontario Senior Games Association chapter, sits on the board of the North Lanark Agricultural Society, and has been an integral part of St. Andrew’s United Church in Pakenham for decades. She’s done it all at the church – first woman elected an elder in 1971, has played the organ, taught Sunday school, sat on the church’s board council and always lends a hand for fundraisers.

More recently, Marilyn has been involved with the Museum and Heritage Bicentennial Working Group for this year’s 200th anniversary.

This merely scratches the surface of Marilyn’s volunteer work. Here’s what her nominator and supporters had to say about her community involvement:

  • “Marilyn is incredibly hard working, has an infectiously positive attitude, is always giving to – or doing something for – someone, is creative, has a just-get-it-done attitude, has a great, warped and often off-colour sense of humour, is wonderfully calm and even-tempered, and is filled to the brim with compassion and kindness. She is a dream to work with on committees, in the kitchen, in the choir loft, in the archives, serving Tea on the Lawn, playing euchre, displaying flowers and making pies. Nothing is ever a problem.”

  • “Her willingness to sign up to help, her avid interest in showcasing agriculture, her passion in sharing history, her general curiosity for all things is infectious. She is a complete role model to all of us following behind.”

  • “I can think of no one more deserving of being celebrated for her contributions to this municipality than Marilyn Snedden, and her attaining this title as we celebrate the Bicentennial of Mississippi Mills could not be more appropriate.”

Thank you, Marilyn, for your contributions to our community.