On June 12, 1999, Rev. L. Elmo Snedaker, pastor at the Lounsberry United Methodist church, celebrated his 80th birthday with a party on Hiawatha Island. When Rev. Snedaker was born in 1919, his parents, Lynn and Mertie Snedaker, were tenant farmers on the island.

Attendees at the birthday party hiked around the east end of the island, past the site of the old luxury hotel, to the picnic area, near the location of the farmhouse and barns. Now it is an open area surrounded by large trees, some old machinery, and rustic benches.

The shuttle boat brought the party-goers picnic baskets and folding chairs to another landing spot on the north shore. This was a wonderful place to relax, visit, and picnic. Rev. Snedaker's grandchildren and great-grandchildren tossed frisbees and a football for a while, but even they succumbed to the unhurried atmosphere of Hiawatha Island.

When it was time to leave, everyone helped take the empty baskets and chairs back to the landing and most went on around the path, past the tower, the spring house, back to the south landing to wait for the boat around the western end and back to that point. A few rode the boat around the western end and back to that point. Two young men from the Waterman Center took especially good care of the Snedaker family, one on the boat and the other as guide for those who hiked the trail.

Rev. Snedaker's sister, Eupha Snedaker Shanly, wrote the book "A Hiawatha Island Childhood 1911-1919."