Sue Snyder’s home in the heart of Somers is a landmark and a conversation piece.

Just around the corner from Del’s Bar, her place and her collection of handmade scarecrows draw people in. In Somers, Snyder is known as “Scarecrow Sue.”

Making scarecrows has been a way of life for Snyder since she was in her early 20s.

“Back when I lived in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where I was born and raised, I lived in a rural setting,” she said. Straw was plentiful and she loves recycling, so she made scarecrows.

“I had them sitting around picnic tables. People thought we were sitting out there,” she said with a laugh. “It just became a fun thing.”

Snyder started making scarecrows for her friends and continued making them when she moved to the Flathead Valley in 1989. Eventually she set up a booth at the local farmers market, and even sold her scarecrows — including some fashioned to look like Santa and Mrs. Claus — from various store parking lots.

“The purpose of scarecrows was recycling,” she said.

Snyder gathers items at yard sales and used to find lots of recylables at the county’s green-box trash bins before “Dumpster diving” was banned.

These days her scarecrow business is more low-key.

“It’s mainly by word of mouth,” she said. “A lot of traffic comes through Somers. I have a sandwich board in the driveway with my phone number.”

Though scarecrows are Snyder’s trademark, she dabbles in many kinds of art. Using driftwood collected from the shore of Flathead Lake over the years, she makes trellises for both exterior use for climbing vines and indoor use as jewelry racks. She also paints medallions.

Snyder, 54, has done a variety of jobs to make a living. She worked in landscape maintenance for a time and painted houses in the Somers area. Now she focuses on her art full time.

Her homesite is a historic spot in Somers. She lived in the former Methodist Church on Burns Street until it burned down 10 years ago on the eve of Thanksgiving Day. The church dated to the early 1900s.

Snyder suffered critical burns in the fire but is lucky to be alive. She recalls how Lakeside Quick Response Unit EMT and firefighter Ron Virnig and her partner at the time pushed into the burning building to save her.

“I spent five weeks at Harborview” Medical Center, she said. “My back was melted off. It was a long haul recovering. They took skin from my thighs and hips to replace my back.

“I stayed with friends for some time. They didn’t say how destroyed my sanctuary was,” she recalled.

The old church she had called home was not salvageable.

After the fire the community rallied to help rebuild her home.

“It was rebuilt on the same [church] footprint and build similar to the old church,” Snyder said. “It’s a fabulous new structure; it looks like a church.”

A remnant of one of the church’s stained-glass windows is propped up against one of the home’s large windows, a reminder of the site’s historic past.

Prior to surviving the fire, Snyder battled breast cancer after doctors told her to brace for the worst after discovering a 3-inch lump in one breast.

Every day seems to bring a new artistic idea to Snyder’s creative mind. Her scarecrows, keeping their vigil over her new sanctuary, add more than a sense of whimsy to her Somers neighborhood. They’re a testament to Snyder’s undying spirit and a community that has long embraced her as one of their own. 

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by email at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.