by Mary Jo David

Camping is what attracted one of this year’s Women of Note to our area. Lyn St. Dennis and her husband, Mike, landed in Unadilla Township by way of Waterford and then Ann Arbor, where Lyn worked at the Veterans Hospital. Eventually, the couple purchased 10 acres and built their home on Kaiser Road very near Bruin Lake State Park.

In the almost 50 years since moving to the area, Lyn has made her mark in the community in a myriad of ways.

Both she and Mike coached T-ball and youth soccer (a sport Lyn admitted to learning as they coached!).  With their young sons, Chris and Andy, involved in sports, “Athletic boosters was our first foray into belonging to a group in the area,” Lyn said. “Schools were struggling to pay for sports.”

Boosters bingo was a major fundraiser for the school sports program. “It was nothing to have 100 people on a Saturday night for bingo,” Lyn recalled.

Lyn reminisced fondly about the accomplishments of the club at a time when she was treasurer.
“Boosters fundraising back then earned close to $50,000 a year. That’s how we raised the money for the Stockbridge football field and the track.”

In the late 1980s, the international Lions Club began to admit women as members. After their youngest son, Andy, graduated from high school, Lyn joined husband Mike in the Lions Club.

One thing became clear early in the conversation with Lyn—neither she nor Mike are likely to take on passive roles when they volunteer.

“Mike was president for a while, and we both did a stint as scholarship chairpersons,” Lyn said. Even now, almost 30 years after their initial involvement, Lyn continues as program treasurer for the Lions Foundation and Mike is secretary.

“Over the years, our local Lions did Sundays with Santa, the scholarship program, a pulled pork tent at All Clubs Day, and the Easter Egg Hunt. But our club is aging, so we’ve scaled back somewhat,” Lyn explained.

Don’t be fooled by the term “scaling back,” because as it happens, the leaner, local Lions still manage to collect donations on annual White Cane Days, organize the annual Easter Egg Hunt, collect trash along designated local highways three times per year, and host a December auction dinner with proceeds going to Christmas shopping for adoptive families through Stockbridge Area Outreach.

“This year we raised money through our auction to buy Christmas gifts for a family of 10 and a family of 11,” Lyn said. 

Up until last fall, Lyn served on the board of the Stockbridge Area Educational Foundation (SAEF) and continues to assist with the SAEF annual online auctions. She also has coached middle school girls basketball and volleyball and high school golf for girls and boys.

In recollecting all of this community involvement as part of the interview process, Lyn admits that the volunteering she is most proud of are the 15 years she spent coaching eighth grade girls volleyball, which later morphed into helping run the community recreation coed adult volleyball program prior to the COVID pandemic.

As a coach, she didn’t believe in cutting girls during a tryout process, and the one time she had to do that, she hated it.

“I was a tomboy growing up, and as a mom, I raised two boys. But I remember what it was like to be a girl at that age. As a middle school coach, I felt it was my job to teach girls how to be confident at a time when their self esteem was so fragile. And who’s to say someone can’t develop skills and become a better player just because a tryout didn’t go well,” said this intuitive coach.

Emily Lindstrom grew up in Stockbridge and played on one of Lyn’s eighth grade volleyball teams.

“Lyn was an inspiring coach,” recalls Lindstrom. “It was not about the win but about doing your personal best. If we made a mistake, she wouldn’t get upset, she just encouraged us to make it up later in the game. That advice still sticks with me today.”

Lyn realizes that coaching was good for her, too. “The year I coached basketball was the year our son Andrew was diagnosed with schizophrenia. It was a tough time. After that, the years coaching volleyball were good for me on so many levels. It helped me to grow as a person, too.”

As she considers what volunteering has done for her, she encourages others to do their part.

“Volunteering is a great way to meet people and make friends. Initially you might not think you have the time—we were busy working and raising kids—but you just do what you can do,” Lyn said.

Whether at work, at home, or out in the community, Lyn St. Dennis believes you have to have fun and enjoy the people you are with.

“I measure my success through my relationships with others. I like to help make things happen—not just for myself, but for everybody.”

Photos provided by Lyn St. Dennis.