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4-H Club celebrates 100 years
CONROY — “It’s hard to imagine 100 years,” said 4-H Leader Cassie Bott. That’s how long Hilton Willing Workers 4-H Club has been around.
The chapter began when Calvin Coolidge was president, said Bott. People got their news from the radio.
The Willing Workers hosted an open house earlier this month in Conroy to celebrate 100 years of 4-H members. Historic uniforms, borrowed from Iowa State University Extension, hung on the walls and displays of previous projects, created by volunteers, lined the room. Visitors could peruse record books from previous eras before and after the program.
Mary Veatch, 4-H Youth Developer with Iowa County Extension, said that 4-H has been around since 1918, the era of prohibition. “I got started because it’s a family tradition,” she said.
Veatch’s first county fair was 1990, in Benton County.
“I am extremely proud of our Iowa 4-H … traditions,” Veatch said. “4-H shapes leaders.”
Callie Wiebold, a Hilton Willing Worker from 1983-1990, remembered 4-H before computers and the internet. The Extension office sent out packets of information.
Today 4-Hers pick their own projects, said Wiebold, but projects used to be assigned. Members met in homes rather than in a public venue.
Wiebold remembered her first presentation. “I was 9 years old.”
Wiebold had to give a presentation about tuna melts, she said. She’d never had one. “I don’t even like tuna.”
She also remembers having to make a tacky cloth, a cloth that was treated to pick up dust.
“I remember my hands stunk,” Wiebold said, and her hands were so sticky that she couldn’t have dessert.
A presentation about making muffins ended better. Not only could Wiebold eat muffins at the conclusion of that presentation, she took the project to the State Fair.
“We did a lot of lip syncing,” Wiebold said. The entertainment was popular when she was in 4-H.
Wiebold also has family 4-H traditions. Her Aunt Caroline completed many of the same projects while learning sewing and nutrition. Wiebold’s father showed livestock.
“I just love 4-H for the responsibility and the goals,” said Wiebold. “If you have a 4-H Club, it’s so important to be part of that.”
4-H used to provide dental checks and physical exams, said Bott. They don’t do that any more, but they help children learn to do things better.
“There are things that happen, and you learn from those things.”
Nancy Welsh, a former 4-H leader, remembers when clubs were segregated, and only the boys’ club could show livestock. She wanted to show hogs, so she joined the boys’ 4-H Club as well as the girls’ club. She had to keep two record books.
“Once you get out, don’t forget about it,” said Welsh. She remembered teaching 4-H members how to handle job interviews. They were taught to dress up, to shake hands, to have a resume.
The kids hated it, Welsh said.
But when her son was in college, he had an interview. “He told me after the fact that he went out and bought a suit,” Welsh said. Other students no idea they were supposed to dress up or have a resume, he told her.
Iowa State Sen. Dawn Driscoll presented the Willing Workers with a plaque before the open house for its 100 years of service to the youth of Iowa County.
