Marianne Garfield of Summit Hill spent most of her life helping others, especially young children and individuals with disabilities.

Because of that “lifelong dedication to helping those less fortunate,” she received the distinguished “Shamrock Award” by the Irish-American Association of the Panther Valley on Sunday.

The award was presented by the organization’s president, Scott Fisher, who not only cited her dedication, but noted that in her retirement she remains active and volunteers with numerous organizations.

About 100 people attended the association’s 77th annual banquet in the Hilltop Community Center, Summit Hill.

During the acceptance of the award, she told the gathering how grateful and humbled she was to receive it.

She also divulged a recent medical crisis she faced. She said in December, she was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia, a very aggressive form of leukemia. She stressed that doctors assured her the condition is now in remission.

Garfield said that when she was diagnosed, it made her look back on her life. One of the things she thought about, she said, was the support and prayers she received from family and friends.

She looked at her husband, retired attorney Michael Garfield, and said, “I realized being married to my best friend for 54 years was a good choice.”

She was accompanied to the banquet by her husband, two daughters and three grandchildren. Her son-in-law, Paul McArdle Jr. of Summit Hill, served as master of ceremonies. He was the Shamrock Award recipient in 2022.

McArdle, known for his easy-going personality as well as his wit, opened the program by pretending he was going to offer a mother-in-law joke. Instead, he immediately got serious, saying he couldn’t do it “because I actually and absolutely love my mother-in-law.”

He told the gathering, “It is so awesome having a mother-in-law and father-in-law who I so love spending time with ... month after month, year after year.”

Everyone who spoke affectionately referred to Garfield as “Mom-Mom.”

Several political leaders presented certificates to Garfield, including state Rep. Doyle Heffley; Brad Hurley, who represented Sen. David Argall; Rochelle Pasquariello, who represented U.S. Congressman Ryan Mackenzie, and numerous Carbon County officials.

Heffley said he was pleased Garfield was this year’s recipient, noting the Shamrock Award “is really about family and community.”

Garfield taught special education for many years in Lehighton, where she helped teach life skills to students enrolled in that curriculum.

While in college, she volunteered at Pennhurst State Hospital and said she was appalled by the conditions there, which piqued her interest in special education.

She also taught for a while at the Clarke School for the Deaf in Maine.

When she and her family moved to Jim Thorpe, she was instrumental in starting the first kindergarten and preschool at St. Joseph’s School.

She’s a daughter of the late Dr. Dennis J. Bonner and Janet Bonner of Summit Hill.

Garfield attributes her kind personality to her parents. Dr. Bonner, who once was Summit Hill’s only physician, was a Shamrock Award recipient in 1971.

Marianne recalled that there were times when patients came to her father and had no money, but he treated them anyway. She recalls one patient paid him with cookies.

The invocation was given by Deacon Joe Cannon, and the benediction by the Rev. Eric J. Gruber, both of St. Joseph Parish of the Panther Valley.