Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Volunteer Spotlight: Marilyn Garwood


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.