Genevieve’s successful lobbying efforts in Michigan didn’t go unnoticed. In 1960, she traveled to Washington, D.C., at the request of Senator Phillip Hart to lobby for a Land and Water Conservation Bill and the establishment of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. Soon after, she was invited to return to Washington to serve on President Johnson’s Citizens’ Advisory Committee on Recreation and Natural Beauty.

In 1969, Genevieve received the Distinguished Alumni Award from Michigan State University. Of all the awards she had received in her lifetime, this one meant the most. She thought it would have made her father very proud.

 

Genevieve Gillette

In 1976, as she looked on, Governor Milliken dedicated the E. Genevieve Gillette Nature Center in P.J. Hoffmaster State Park, as a lasting tribute to her countless volunteer efforts on behalf of the citizens of Michigan. Typical of her modesty, Genevieve, although honored, reminded well-wishers that she was never alone in her attempts to preserve Michigan’s natural beauty and that her satisfaction was payment enough.

 

Despite advanced age and failing eyesight, Genevieve Gillette continued her lobbying efforts in the State Legislature. Her remarkable energy and personality made her unforgettable to everyone she met. Others cited it was, “the way she laughed, the stories she told, the friends she had, the letters she wrote, the phone calls she made and the courage she had” that made the difference. Was she satisfied with the way her life turned out? “I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. Life would have been terribly disappointing to have grown old and not pleased with what one has been able to do.”

 

Following Genevieve’s death in 1986, the Detroit Free Press called her “a saving angel to Michigan’s natural beauty.” It was her last wish that money from her estate be used to purchase ecologically significant property near Rogers City in Presque Isle County. Thompson’s Harbor State Park is Genevieve Gillette’s last gift to the people of Michigan.

 

“Parklands are something we should insist on while we’re building, not after cement covers the ground. After all, aren’t we the only people who can leave those following us any heritage of natural beauty.”

 

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