Marilyn Garwood of
Mendota Heights travels weekly to Faribault to volunteer at the Rice County
Historical Society Museum.
What she likes best
about volunteering is meeting new people and learning about the museum
functions, and facts about Rice County history, even though she didn’t ever
live here.
Garwood grew up in
St. Paul. She has lived in Mendota Heights for many years. She began volunteering
at the RCHS Museum 8 ½ years ago when her daughter, Sue Garwood of Northfield,
became executive director of the RCHS.
She does a variety
of work during her weekly trips to the museum, filing, typing, proofing,
cleaning, shopping, answering the phones - doing just about anything her
daughter, Sue asks her to do.
Her initial reason
for volunteering was to spend time with her daughter, who was looking for
volunteer help after she took over as director of the RCHS. As the years went
on, she became friends with other volunteers. She also worked during most of
the past eight Rice County Fairs, helping with the task of overseeing the
historical buildings on the fairgrounds that are open during the fair and
include the log cabin, one-room school house, church and Harvest and Heritage
Halls, besides the museum.
Garwood is a widow
with three grown children, who include two sons besides her daughter, Sue. She
has five grandchildren, three boys and two girls. She is a retired nurse and
currently serves as a parish nurse for the Episcopal church she attends. Her
hobbies are reading, walking, travel and spending time with family and friends.
