Luella Snyder
Luella Snyder’s roots run deep in Franklin Parish. She was born and raised on the family farm in the Como community east of Winnsboro, where she and her brothers grew up during a simpler time. They never lost sight of the value of hard work and the importance of education, values they learned in their childhood years on the farm in Como.
Luella attended LSU during World War II where her uncle, retired Brigadier General Campbell Hodges, served as the school president. Her studies in the audio visual field eventually took her overseas to Europe and the Middle East after the war, but the lure of home brought her back to Louisiana.
She returned to her beloved Como, where she forged a new life and shared her love of education, history and preservation with the community where she grew up. In March of 1970, Luella was appointed to the Board of Control of the Franklin Parish Library and, a year later, was named president of that board, a position she would hold for the next 43 years.
The local library flourished during her tenure, and she worked closely with the other board members to establish the library’s present location in downtown Winnsboro. In recent years prior to Luella’s death, the parish library expanded once again through the opening of The Genealogy and Local History Center, which didn’t just happen by itself. It came about through Luella’s quiet insistence… her gracious generosity… and her love of home.