Loraine Snell

April 30, 1931 – July 25, 2021

Margaret (Loraine) Snell died of a sudden illness on July 25 in Lacey, Washington.

She was born on April 30, 1931, in Ellensburg, Washington, to Carl and Margaret Mansperger. At Kittitas High School, she edited the school newspaper and graduated as class valedictorian. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Central Washington College of Education (now Central Washington University), where she majored in fine arts, minored in botany and edited the college yearbook.

After graduation, she taught art in the Spokane public schools.

In 1953, she married Thomas I. (Tom) Snell in Ellensburg. They operated a dairy farm near Kittitas from 1953 until 1962. They developed another farm from the sagebrush near Royal City, Washington, where they moved in 1962 and raised row crops, wheat and alfalfa. In 1981, they planted their first orchard and went on to win the Stemilt Red Delicious Grower of the Year award in 1992.

Loraine and Tom raised nine children.

In Royal City, Loraine generously contributed her time, artistic and teaching abilities, horticultural knowledge and organizational skills to St. Michael the Archangel parish, the chamber of commerce, the Junior Miss festivals, the Community Days celebrations, the Royal City Clinic, the Friends of the Library, the Grant County Fair and the Grant County Master Gardeners. She was the first president of the Friends of the Royal City Library, the Grant County Master Gardener of the Year in 2002, the winner of the Madoline McNamara Service Award in 2003, and the Royal Slope Citizen of the Year in 1991.

Loraine served on the Grant County Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Board for 17 years. She was chairperson for three terms. She also served as member and chair of the North Central Washington Regional Support Network Advisory Board for three years and as commissioner for Hospital District 7 for six years.

After Tom’s death in 1998, Loraine moved to Olympia in 2004 and to Lacey in 2014.

Loraine is survived by her sister Lois, eight children and 11 grandchildren.

A graveside service will be held at the Royal City Cemetery, Aug. 21, 2021, at 2 p.m., followed by a reception at

St. Michael’s Church in Royal City.