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MARQUETTE -- A Marquette resident well known for her efforts to promote literacy has been awarded a prestigious honor for her lifetime of work in the area.
Nancy Seminoff of Marquette, who serves as board chair and president of the Literacy Legacy Fund of Michigan, was awarded the Mary Smith Lockwood Medal for Education by the Daughters of the American Revolution of Michigan and the literacy legacy fund. Seminoff received the honor during the recent DAR of Michigan State Conference in Kalamazoo. The DAR, founded in 1890, is a non-profit, nonpolitical volunteer women's service organization dedicated to promoting patriotism, preserving American history and securing America's future through better education for children.
"I am deeply humbled to receive the Mary Smith Lockwood Medal for Education," said Seminoff, a former teacher, professor and administrator at the local school and university levels. "Throughout my life, I have learned that education is not simply about what we know, but how we use what we learn to serve others, create opportunities for further learning and better understand one another. I hope this recognition encourages others to keep learning, value the contributions of those around them, and use their own gifts to make a difference."
Seminoff helped establish "March is Reading Month in Michigan" while the president of the Michigan Reading Association 40 years ago. She has served on a number of agency and non-profit boards at the national, state and local levels including as board member of the International Reading Association and as past president of the Michigan Reading Association.
She founded the Literacy Legacy Fund of Michigan in 2006. Since 2008, the fund has supported a variety of literacy-related initiatives in Michigan through grants, receiving more than 75 grants to support literacy for more than 11,000 individuals in Michigan.
Additionally, the Literacy Legacy Fund of Michigan partners with The Dollywood Foundation to offer Dolly Parton's Imagination Library in six communities within Marquette and Alger counties. In 2025, over 570 children in the Marquette area alone were served by the program, according to the fund's most recent annual report. It is a children's book gifting program that distributes 3.1 million books each month across the U.S. and four other countries.
DAR of Michigan State Regent Dawn Brady said Seminoff's lifelong commitment to literacy has created opportunities for Michiganders of every age.
"As founder and leader of the Literacy Legacy Fund of Michigan, Nancy has turned her belief in the power of literacy into meaningful action," Brady said. "Her leadership has helped provide free books to preschool children through Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, expanded access to books in rural libraries, supported scholarships for future educators, and created innovative literacy programs that reach children, families and older adults.
"Her vision has also connected literacy with health and community well-being--from oral health literacy programs reaching hundreds of elementary students to initiatives encouraging young people to explore rural health careers."
Forty rural libraries in Michigan will receive a book about George Washington through the partnership between the Daughters of the American Revolution of Michigan and the Literacy Legacy Fund of Michigan.