BIG-Uncuster Farming, Saturday, January 18,1986
Farm Women elect Lois Hughes, Dorothy Caskey to state board of directors
BY SALLY BAIR
Staff Correspondent
HARRISBURG Delegates to
the 67th annual state convention of
the Society of Farm Women of
Pennsylvania elected Lois Hughes
state treasurer, and Dorothy
Caskey as director on Tuesday.
Two hundred and forty one
voting delegates representing the
state’s 3829 Farm Women mem
bers met at the Farm Show
Building for their business session.
Lois Hughes, Portage,
represents Cambria County where
she has served as county
secretary. She has been a member
of Farm Women since 1956. A
member of the South Ebensburg
United Church of Christ, Lois also
serves on the Family Living Ad
visory Board for the Cooperative
Extension Service in that county.
The mother of six children, Lois
and her husband operate a beef
cattle operation.
Dorothy Caskey has been in
jpp ~cepv
plaque from Greene County Agricultural Agent Roger Smith
for the Farm Women support of the National Association of
County Agricultural Agents' national convention held in
Pennsylvania in 1985.
Children's Aid director addresses Farm Women at annual convention
Featured speaker at the Farm Women banquet was
Theresa Eshbaugh, director of the Childrens Aid Society of
the Church of the Brethren.
Farm Women for 17 years in
Adams County where she and her
husband live near Aspers. She has
served as county president and in
other county offices there. She said
she was “quite surprised” to be
selected to the post of director.
Active in the Memorial Baptist
Church in Gettysburg, Mrs.
Caskey serves as coordinator of
the senior adult program and sings
in the choir. She is employed by the
Rice Fruit Company.
Both women will serve a three
year term on the state board. State
President Naomi Bupp accepted a
certificate of appreciation from
Green County Agricultural Agent
Roger Smith for the financial
contribution given by Farm
Women to the convention of the
National Association of County
Agricultural Agents which was
held in Pennsylvania last fall.
Bupp expressed concern for the
slowly diminishing numbers of
Farm Women across the state, and
Naomi Bupp, left, state president of the Society of Farm Women, congratulates
Dorothy Caskey, center, and Lois Hughes as new members of the state board. Mrs.
Caskey will serve as a director and Mrs. Hughes will be treasurer, both serving three
year terms.
urged Society members to add new
members as old ones are lost
through death and other causes.
She said, “It would be nice to
expand. Although the potential for
farmers is less and less, the part
for farm-related people is growing.
That’s what we need to work on.”
She said she would be glad to help
organize Societies in counties
where there presently are none if
women are interested.
President Bupp reported that 13
90-year-old members have been
reported, in addition to the four
100-year-old members. Those four
are Mrs. Grace Whorley, Green
County; Mrs. Ida Heistand and
Mrs. Barbara Moore, Lancaster
County; and Mrs. Carrie Custer,
Somerset County.
In committee reports, legislative
BY SUZANNE KEENE
HARRISBURG Pennsylvania
Farm Women gathered at the
Penn Harris Motor Inn in
Harrisburg, Monday evening for a
night of good food, fun and
fellowship.
Part of the 67th annual State
Farm Women Convention, the
banquet brought together mem
bers of Farm Women societies
from across the state. Featured
speaker for the evening was
Theresa Eshbaugh, director of the
Children’s Aid Society of the
Brethren Church, South District.
Mrs. Eshbaugh shared some
case histories of the troubled
youngsters she works with and
encouraged the Farm Women to
feel good about themselves and to
encourage others.
“I see many youngsters who are
most unhappy,” Mrs. Eshbaugh
said. For example, there’s eight
year-old Ray Ann, who is at the top
her third-grade class. Born with a
brain tumor that has since been
removed, Ray Ann lives inside a
body whose members grow at
different rates. One side of her
body grows more quickly than the
other.
Tumors continue to Appear on
R&yAnn’s body, and because she
can’t tolerate the drugs needed to
put her to sleep for surgery,
Ray Ann must suffer through
operations with only local
anesthetics.
“She is a gifted and very
determined young person,” Mrs.
Eshbaugh said, adding, “She is
going to bloom into all that she can
be.”
Mrs. Eshbaugh continued with
more case histories of troubled
youth children who have been
chairman Gladys Becker en
couraged the members to get to
know their state and national
legislators. Important legislative
issues on the state level which
should concern them include the
bottle law and unisex insurance
rates. Nationally she encouraged
them to support a balanced budget
and the drive to cut waste and the
deficit. She asked each county to
have a legislative chairman to
work with her.
Joan Hershey, chairman of the
farm and home safety committee,
said women should be concerned
about safety on the farm, in the
home and on the highway. She told
them to support the safe use of
three wheelers, the proper han
dling of spray materials and an
alertness with power tools. In the
home she told the women to
Farm Women attending the banquet were treated to a
concert by the Handbell Choir of the Codorus Church of the
Brethren.
sexually or physically molested,
children who have only one parent
or who live in fear that one day
they will come home from school
and their parents will not be there.
“These are the kinds of children
in our world who don’t know and
are struggling to find the meaning
of happiness,” Mrs. Eshbaugh
said.
It is these children who
Childrens Aid Society aims to help
through caring and counseling.
The Society counselors target their
efforts on the children, who know
their feelings better than anyone
else including their parents,
Mrs. Eshbaugh said.
By developing a trusting
relationship with their young
clients, the counselors try to help
the children face up to and cope
with their problems.
Mrs. Eshbaugh said the society
sponsors Parents Anonymous in
Vork Countv, a self-help group for
discard outdated medicines, date
food as it is preserved and make
sure wiring is adequate. When
driving she cautioned women to be
aware of joggers and bikers who
may be using headsets and not
hear traffic.
It was announced that ap
plications are now being accepted
for the four $5OO college scholar
ships awarded annually by the
state association.
Dorothy Pyle reported that 1994
recipes have been received as part
of the state project which will be
the creation of a cookbook. The
committee has begun work on the
project, which includes recipes
from both adults and children.
President Bupp said one of the
purposes of the cookbook is to help
promote Pennsylvania com
modities.
parents who are cnna aousers.
Many of these parents, she said,
have been victims of child abuse
themselves.
“That’s what they learned,” she
said. “When it comes to a crisis
situation...the tapes of the past
come back.”
The Childrens Aid Society aims
-to help kids learn other ways of
dealing with stress.
“We can respond to these
children in need,” Mrs. Eshbaugh
said. She urged the Farm Women
to assess the needs of their com
munities and to look for ways to
help children.
Children are tomorrow’s
leaders, Mrs. Eshbaugh said, “but
they’re also a very important part
of today’s world.”
Mrs. Eshbaugh’s presentation
was followed by a concert by the
Handbell Choir of the Codorus
Church of the Brethren.