16—Lancaster Farming. Saturday. August 30.1969
i • •
IVfrs. Greenleaf Organized The
First Quarryville Fair In 1950
By Mrs. Charles McSpanan back the movement. A meeting
Lancaster Farming Staff Writer was called and they organized
Twenty years ago an idea be- Wlth Ml Stanle y M usselman as
came a reality because of an their Piesident The vauous of.
individual who was willing to ficeis and duectols were elecf ed
■put hei shouldei to the wheel. and the first fair was held m
She was none othei than Mis Septembei 1950
Mai tin C Gi eenleaf, better The Quairvville Fue Company,
known to the lesidents of south- C E Wiley & Son faim imple
crn Lancaster County as Sadis ment dealei and J Earl News-
Al the time she was piesident of v'angei furnituie stoie owner
the Society of Faim Women of giented them the use of their
Lancaster County Foi a few buildings and Jerome H Rhoads
years the Faim Women Socie- peimitted them to use his
ties of the southein section of S‘°unds adjoining the Fne
Lancastei County had been talk- House Many local citizens
«ng about the possibility of hav- assumed duties such as seiving
ing an agucultuial fan Then cn committees foi the vauous
one day Mrs Owen Groff wrote a depaitments The Faim Women
letter to Mrs Greenleaf raising Societies manned the refiesh
the question why the Faim Wo- ment and novelty stands and
rren, couldn’t organize a fair foi cooked dinners each evening of
southern Lancaster County the fair foi hundieds of people
These six societies had 250 mem- and sei ved the lunches at mid
liers at the time This gave Sadie day They donated much of the
the impetus to do something food and all their time and it
She wrote letters to the County v/as from these proceeds that
Agent, The Solanco High School the premiums were paid They
principal, the head of the high did this for about ten yeais and
school Agriculture Department, after the Fair Association start
the local banks and the local ed receiving state aid they ac
servjce clubs such as the Farm cepted half the profits realized
Women’s Societies, the Granges, from their work No admission
the Quarryville Lions Club, the has ever been charged to see the
Kotary Club etc. All agreed to fair. Other service groups,
IN THE PAINTING on the wall, Mrs Greenleaf has
captured the building (it isn’t standing now) that history
i ecords as the place where the lirst shot of the Civil War
was fired. It is the Christians Riot House where a U S. Mar
shal’s son was shot. Slaves from Maryland had been shelter
ed here and the U S. Marshal and son from the South came
ior them
On the beautiful antique desk may be seen some of her
weed craft cards. L. F. Photo
FOR THE
FARM
WIFE
AND
FAMILY
MRS MARTIN GREENLEAF holds the poster for the
fair and has before her the fair catalog. The plaque is the
“Woman of the Year” award she received in 1959. In the
background may be seen some of her prized antique dishes.
L. F. Photo
Quanyville and area business
men and individuals have like
wise donated money to sponsoi
bands for the parade, savings
bonds and gifts for the Harvest
Queen contestants, puzes for
Ruial Youth awards etc, etc
Other service organizations have
been selling food and giving half
the piofit’to the Fair Association
also Last year ovei $2200 was
spent for premiums.
The officers and directors
from the start incorporated in
their by-laws that no concessions
nor gambling would be permit
ted and in place of these the.
area churches have a unique Hall
of Religion where people at
tending the fair may rest, medi
tate, listen to religous music and
avail themselves of the religious
literature and view their exhibits
etc. A high quality form of en
tertainment is provided each
evening of the fair The fair has
a very fine exhibit of all kinds
of farm products and ammals
and also a very large commercial
display of farm machinery, auto
mobiles, appliances, feeds, fer
tilizers, seeds, etc
The Southern Lancaster. Coun
ty Community Fair is the first
one held m the coupty each
year It will be held this year
September 17, 18 and 19 It is
now held at the Quarryville
Memorial Park Mis. Greenleaf
has been a director of the fair
and has served as chairman of
the Refreshment Committee for
the twenty years of the fair’s
existance This year foi the first
no meals will be seived by the
Faim Women at the Fne Hall
as it is too fai lemoved from the
fair giounds but food will be
available at the various food
stands on the giounds
Mrs Gieenleaf is Secretary
of the Society of Faim Women
of Pennsylvania, having been
elected last January foi a three
year teim In addition to at
tending the State convention she
is called upon to attend some
neighboung county conventions
She sends out Executive Com
mittee notices regulaily and
assists the State president as
diiected She served as piesi
dent of Lancastei County Farm
Women 1948-1950 She is an ac
tive member of Society #l5 and
has seived as then president,
secretaiy and has been on the
Ways and Means Committee
about foity percent of the time
she has belonged The Society
has appioximately 45 members
She has been attending Home
makeis Camp which is held at
Camp Swatara ip Berks County
for thnty yeais whenevei she
could It was held last Saturday
thiough Tuesday Ongmally it
was conducted by the Extension
Association but has been con
ducted largely b> interested farm
women for the past several
yeais It piovides 48 houis of
good relaxation, fun and enter
tainment besides instruction in
worthwhile crafts for rural
women
Mrs. Greenleaf says “the most
important work of.my life 15 my
church” She was brought up
in.the Mennomte church, joined
the Quarryville Memorial, Meth
odist Churches a girl.and since
marriage has been a member of
the Union Presbyterian Church,
near her home, where she is now
sexving as an elder She-is the
first and the only woman to
seive m this capacity in this
church. Six months ago she
was honored to assist the pastor
in baptizing her youngest grand
daughter, Debbie Greenleaf. She
is on leave of absence, due to
her health, as Sunday School
teacher of the Women’s Bible
Class and had taught the Begin
ners Class and high school girls
previously. She sang in the
church choir for about five
years She has served as presi
dent of the Women’s Association
and as Circle leader seveial
times She has been working on
a committee for the past four
years writing the 150 year his-
A FAVORITE STILL LIFE PICTURE
lory of her church. They hop#
to have it finished and published
this year. She served two yeais
as Circle Advisor on the Donegal
Prcsbytcnal Women’s Associa
tion Executive Board.
Mrs Giccnleaf was selected by
Hie Quarry vide Chamber of Com
nieice as the “Women Of The
Yeai” in 1959 Nominations were
submitted from various organiza
tions and individuals in the area
and a panel of judges made the
selection.
"I take an interest in politics.
I think it’s a privlege and a
responsibility’’ says Mrs. Green
loaf. She has helped on commit
tees etc. and has served on the
county and federal jury several
times
She was 4-H Leader in Cole
-lam Township for a good many
yeais She was leader for the
Flower Club and the Cooking
Club.
Mrs Greenleaf is an artist
She started doing oil paintings
about five years ago and has
done 50 to 75 Her favorites aie
pictmes of churches and scenes.
The last one was the Bellevue
Presbyterian Church at the Gap.
She says “I always liked paint
ing When I got my youngest
son m college I started to paint ”
She studies under Charles X
Cailson of Kuks Mills She is
Vice-Pi esident of Octoraro Art
Club She is also interested in
ether arts and crafts She makes
weed fraft eaids to send to her
fuends as buthday and get-well
caids She has made some metal-
Caft pictuies She makes stone
and shell jewelry and she makes
smocked and towel sofa pillows,
hooked and bi aided rugs She
also sews, makes many of hei
own clothes
Sadie was a daughter of the
late Mr and Mrs Clinton Herr.
Mr Herr was associated with A.
L Herr & Bi other feed business
ot Quarryville She and Mr.
Greenleaf celebrated their fortie
th wedding anniversary last
June- They own their two-farm
unit, of* 230 'acres.-and.rent tyo
farms which .totals about 450
acres they farm- They, had, a.
herd of 120 Angus cattle- until
their barn burned July of; 1968..
Since that time-they-, have built
a steer barn and Plan to fatten
steers. Mr. Greenleaf: also. does
a lot of custom combining, silo,
filling and corn picking. Mrs.
Greenleaf used to bale hay and
straw and just about any kind,
of work out in the fields until
thiee years ago when her health
would not permit.
The Greenleafs haye four
children Anna, a trained nurse
is married to KennethSkiles-and,
they have four children. Edgar
is District Manager for J. I, Case
Company. At present time he is
on a business trip in Wisconsin
showing machinery at the Wis
consin State Fair. He is mar-
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