Six-year-old Marjorie Younce loved to watch people rocking on the porch of the old hotel in downtown Foley in 1941.

One day, as her father drove past the old building, she exclaimed, “I wish I owned that place so I could sit on that porch and rock.”

“Do you think you could sit on that porch and rock if you own that building?” her mother said, laughing.

Now 77, Marjorie Younce Snook does own the old hotel, and she knows exactly what her mother was talking about.

“She meant I’d be too busy to sit there and rock,” Snook said. “I think about that a lot of times. I was just a kid. I never thought I’d own it—goodness, no.”

Snook, who grew up the youngest of nine children on her father’s farm, married John Snook, owner of the Gulf Telephone Company, Jan. 15, 1974.

They met in 1967, when she was just an employee at the company.

“I was working outside, driving trucks and mowing grass,” she said. “Then, he brought me inside to be one of his secretaries.”

Marrying John, a successful businessman, brought Marjorie into wealth she had never before experienced. 

Over the years, the Snooks developed positive relationships with their employees and donated money to the community. John had already founded the Snook Foundation in 1972 to enhance the lives of Gulf Telephone employees, and after he died in 1994, Marjorie became chairman.

Although Marjorie sold the telephone company five years after John’s death, the family’s legacy lives on in the community through the foundation, said Brenda Lee, the Snook Foundation’s executive director.

“This is the most rewarding opportunity I’ve ever had in my life to see that one individual and one family have made such a huge positive difference in so many lives in one community,” said Lee, who has 35 years of experience working with nonprofit organizations. “She is just an amazing woman. I think she lives her faith, and that’s her basis for wanting to help so many people. The vision they had to set up this foundation has allowed more than $11 million into the Foley community.”

The foundation gives out scholarships, and supports health care and educational nonprofit organizations.

 “I like to give back to people who have helped me,” Marjorie said. “If it hadn’t been for all these people that have helped me, I wouldn’t be where I am today.”

Snook is also well known for her elaborate Christmas decorations that adorn her home on George Younce road in Foley from after Thanksgiving all the way until New Year’s Day.

“I started decorating in 1988, and the reason I got started was because of my momma,” Marjorie said. “We had a big cedar tree in the back, and she wanted me to put lights on it, so I did, and that just started me to decorating.”

Marjorie said the decorations get more elaborate every year, and she is happy that the community has adopted her home into its traditions.

“People ask me how many lights there are — but I have no idea,” she said. “Guessing, I would say 50 or 60,000.”

Her Victorian-style home is painted in pastel colors — the purples, pinks, greens and yellows give it a magical aura, which is only intensified with the addition of lights and Christmas decorations.

“That’s just another gift to the community,” Lee said. “So many families have made it a part of their Christmas tradition. I’ll go by on my way home and see her sitting in her rocking chair, waving at the children.”

Whether it’s the work she does with the Snook Foundation or the Christmas decorations, Lee said she believes that even though Marjorie Snook has been blessed immensely, she has retained the humility and hard work ethic she gained from growing up on the farm.

“A lot of people who have money are removed from the needs of the people, but she’s not,” Lee said. “It’s remarkable to me that she’s remained so humble. I just feel so lucky and fortunate to get to know her on a personal level. I’m having the best time.”