Como Charitable Foundation established by Luella Snyder
The Como Charitable Foundation was established by the late Luella Snyder, who grew up in the Como community in Franklin Parish Louisiana. Luella graciously supported the organizations she felt were important to the community she held dear, and she wanted those entities to thrive because they were also important to her.
Luella Snyder never sought recognition for her contributions. She moved quietly behind the scenes to ensure that deserving local groups received the financial help they needed to flourish, and many have benefited from her generosity.
Luella Snyder left a mark on the landscape of Franklin Parish. Her quiet dignity and southern grace blessed this parish with the gift of the Como Charitable Foundation, which will continue her work to benefit this parish and its people for years to come.
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.