By HDN staff
MARY LOU SENNETT
LEWISTOWN -- Mary Lou (O'Neil) Sennett, 52, a News-Argus reporter and Great Falls Tribune correspondent, died Monday, Nov. 15, 1999, at a Billings hospital of a brain aneurysm.
Memorial services will be held 2 p.m. Saturday at the United Methodist Church in Lewistown. Cremation has taken place and her ashes will be scattered next spring in Havre.
The Missoula Renaissance Fair will be held Thanksgiving weekend in Sennett's memory, as will the Lewistown Garden Club's annual floral show Nov. 27-28, at the Yogo Inn in Lewistown.
Sennett was born Dec. 27, 1946, in Havre. She graduated from Havre High School. She attended Northern Montana College for two years, where she was editor of the student paper, and earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Montana at Missoula, serving as features section editor of the UM school paper, the Kaimin. She later worked at the Arapaho Herald in Littleton, Colo., and the Hi-Line Herald in Havre.
On Aug. 12, 1978, she married Frank Sennett in Lewistown. The couple resided in Oregon for several years before moving to Missoula in the 1980s. While in Missoula she produced arts and crafts fairs for more than 19 years, including the well-known Missoula Renaissance Fair and Hellgate Rendezvous. She also produced shows in Kalispell, Billings, Lewistown and Spokane, Wash.
In 1991, the family moved to Lewistown. She co-founded the Pet Assistance League and became a reporter for the Lewistown News-Argus. She also became a freelance writer and Lewistown correspondent for the Great Falls Tribune, covering stories from cultural events to trials and court cases.
She was a member of the Lewistown Garden Club and enjoyed traveling, especially trips to Central America, family gatherings to Lake Coeur d'Alene, and visiting Seattle to attend her step-daughter's dance performances. She also enjoyed reading science fiction, fantasy and mystery novels, playing pinochle, and attending her daughter's school basketball games, plays and concerts.
Survivors include her husband of Lewistown; a daughter, Katie Sennett of Lewistown; a step-daughter, Amy Sennett of Seattle; a step-son, Frank Sennett Jr. of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho; a sister, Peggy O'Neil of Billings; three brothers, Dennis O'Neil of Mount Vernon, Wash., George O'Neil of Redmond, Wash., and Martin O'Neil of Billings.
Memorials are suggested to the Lewistown Pet Assistance League, the donor's local Humane Society or a pet rescue organization.
