814-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, February 1,1986
York extension home economist retires
BY JOYCE BUPP
Staff Correspondent
YORK -• By her own descrip
tion, Marcy Sectarian was a “late
bloomer.”
The York County associate
extension home economist retired
Jan. 31, after 15 years with the
Penn State cooperative extension
service. Colleagues and friends
feted her at a surprise retirement
luncheon on Jan. 27 at the Outdoor
Country Club.
A graduate of Ohio State
University, the former Marceil
Nesbitt of Lima, Ohio, spent her
undergraduate years studying a
clothing and textiles major. Her
plans to pursue a career in the
retailing field were diverted after
marrying fellow engineering
student Harry Seckman.
Marcy decided to put her
education to work after daughter
Barb, and son Greg, had reached
their elementary school years.
While updating her degree at
Mount Mary College, a Milwaukee
girls’ school, Marcy also taught as
a substitute home economics in
structor.
She was not quite through her
student teaching when Harry
announced a career move that
would bring the family east. They
delayed the family uprooting until
she had completed her student
teaching work, and then moved to
York during the Christmas
holidays of 1969.
For the following year, Marcy
worked as a home-ec substitute in
several of the York area school
districts. Early in 1971, she ac
cepted a position with the ex
tension service as a nutrition
assistant with the Expanded Food
and Nutrition Education Program.
She was promoted two years later
to the position of assistant ex
tension home economist, and in
1978 was named an associate ex
tension home economist.
Marcy’s speciality in the home
ec field has always been clotjbing.
Through her years with extension
she has worked closely with the 4-H
clothing projects, helping to
coordinate the annual Fashion
Revue and coaching the Con
sumerama team.
She’s also become the “pickle
person” at the Extension office,
handling questions from local
homemakers puzzling over food
preservation problems. Her
husband, Harry, has long been the
family’s specialist in making
sauerkraut and crock pickles, and
Marcy’s assistance to him has
provided her with plenty of hands
on experience to field questions on
the topic
“Sometimes we’re like the
reference desk at the library,” she
observes, of the broad range of
homemaking and family living
topics directed to the extension
homemakers.
Researching such questions
have made Marcy something of an
expert on stain removal, home
safety, crafts and home arts,
cooking and planning meals.
Answers that eluded the extensive
files of Marcy and colleagues Joan
Lamberson were directed to the
specialists at Penn State.
Helping people has been a
satisfying part of extension work
for Marcy, from offering sound
basic advice to a widower facing
cooking and meal planning to
solving a home canned food
spoilage problem for a homemaker
inadvertently opening the jar seal
when checking lids for proper
sealing
Teaching skills and co
ordinating educational programs
for the Homemakers Groups sent
Marcy learning techniques on
topics ranging from deboning
chickens to designing delicate,
hand-cut lampshades.
with wide-ranging skills
Final preparations for retirement by Marcy Seckman in
cluded going through a variety of files on family living and
related topics.
She has also developed a number
of programs, including the Todder
Topics newsletter. Radio for the
Blind, and management programs
ranging from financial planning to
personal fitness.
“It’s such a diversified job,” she
says of her “late blooming”
career.
And, Marcy is quick to add that
she’s learned a great deal,
sometimes from rather unusual
sources.
Once, while registering a 4-H
youngster for demonstrations, she
asked him the category of his
topic. His answer: “Peepies.”
Mystified, Marcy questioned the
youngster further, until he finally
looked her in the eye and asked,
“Lady, don’t you know what a
peepieis?"
A co-worker came to the rescue,
explaining that a “peepie” is a
Physically active need
more carbohydrates
CAMP HILL Physical fitness
is a common goal among many
people today, with fitness
proponents ranging from after
dinner walkers to competing
athletes.
In general, the physically-actiye
person needs the same nutrients in
the same amounts as the inactive
person, says Dairy Council Inc.,
Southampton, PA. The major
difference is the need for ad
ditional calories and the ac
companying nutrients to maintain
optimal body weight and, in the
young, optimal growth and
development.
What about the competing
athlete? Are there special
problems this person should be on
the lookout for?
Much is often said, for one thing,
about the pre-competition meal,
and many myths abound as to what
type of food should be eaten and
how much.
The purpose of the pre
competition meal is to prevent
hunger during competition.
However, the stomach should not
be full during the event. The
reason for this is that, in general, it
can take from one to four hours for
the stomach to process a meal and
empty it into the intestine. If
athletes are nervous about the
competition, this process might
take longer
Foods remaining in the stomach
during competition may cause
indigestion, nausea, and possibly
vomiting. Athletes are advised to
eat their pre-competition meal
baby chick and went under the
category of poultry.
The scope of 4-H has particularly
impressed Marcy, especially the
accomplishments of members in
the areas of public speaking and
demonstrations.
“Sleeping late,” is the plan
Marcy has initially for retirement.
Looking a bit further into the
future, she and Harry expect to do
some southern traveling during
winter months. Volunteer work,
probably at one of the York area
hospitals, is also near the top of
Marcy’s list of new pursuits.
And, she doesn't totally plan to
disappear from the extension
scene. When next year’s list of
extension classes is printed, it’s a
good chance Marcy will be in
cluded as a teacher, sharing the
myriad of skills she’s learned in
the extension service.
three to four hours before com
petition.
What types of food are suggested
for this meal? High-fat, high
protein foods, such as meats (like
steaks and hamburgers) and fried
foods (like French fries and
doughnuts) are not digested
quickly. For this reason they
should be avoided or limited in the
pre-competition meal.
But foods that contain a high
percentage of carbohydrate are
easily removed from the stomach.
Cereals, breads, pasta, muffins,
pancakes, rolls, and other grain
products are good sources of
carbohydrate, along with fruits
and vegetables* With the exception
of dry beans and peas (like refried
beans or blackeye peas), foods
from the meat group are low in
carbohydrate and high in fat and
protein
Cakes, pies, cookies, soft drinks,
and sugary foods from the
“others” group are high in car
bohydrate, but some are high in fat
and low in most other nutrients.
Whether you’re in training or
just rying to get in shape, your diet
is important to your performance.
The main difference between a
training diet and a normal diet,
says Dairy Council, is that the
training diet is probably higher in
carbohydrate. Though you still
need protein, fat, vitamins,
minerals, and water in your diet,
you get these nutrients as well
as carbohydrates by eating a
variety of foods from the four food
groups.
See your nearest
!\EW HOLLAIND
Dealer for Dependable
Equipment and Dependable
Service:
Annville, PA
BHM Farm
Equipment, Inc
RD I
717 867-2211
Beavertown, PA
B&R Farm
Equipment, Inc
RD 1, 80x217A
717 658 7024
<: Belleville, PA
IvanJ Zook
Farm Equipment
Belleville, Pa
717 935 2948
Carlisle, PA
PaulShovers Inc
35 East Willow Street
717 243 2686
Chambersburg, PA
Clugston
Implement, Inc
RD 1
717 263 4103
Davidsburg, PA
George N Gross, Inc
R D 2, Dover PA
717 292 1673
Elizabethtown, PA
Messick Farm
Equipment Inc
Rt 283 Rheem's Exit
717 367 1319
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C Paul Ford & Son
RD 1
814 652 2051
Gettysburg, PA
Vinglmg Implements
R D 9
717 359 4848
Greencastle, PA'
Meyers
Implement's Inc
400 N Antrim Way
P 0 Box 97
717 597 2176
Grove City, PA
McDowell Farm
Implement Co
Rt 173 North
814 786 7955
Halifax, PA
Sweigard Bros
R D 3, Box 13
717 896 3414
Hamburg, PA
Shartlesville
Farm Service
RD 1 Box 1392
215 488 1025
Honey Brook, PA
Dependable Motor Co Street
East Mam Street of™ ?Q9n
215 273 3131 215 696 2990
215 273 3737
Honey Grove, PA West Grove . PA
Norman D Clark Lewis & Son Inc
& Son Inc RD 2, Box 66
Honey Grove PA 215 869 2214
717 734 3682
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Farnsworth Farm WaUerG Coale Inc
Supplies, Inc £° 4y ” „ D ,
103 Cemetery Street Churchv.Heßd
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350 Strasburg Pike 2 01 689 1464
717 397 5179
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Keller Bros
Tractor Co
R D 7, Box 405
717 949 6501
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Roy A Brubaker
700 Woodcrest Ave
717-626 7766
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Paul Shovers, Inc
Loysville, PA
717-789-3117
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KermitK Kistler, Inc
Lynnport, PA
215 298 2011
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Forshey's, Inc
UOForshey St
814 793-3791
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Paul A Dotterer
RD 1
717 726-3471
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ABC Groff Inc
110 South Railroad
717 354 4191
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P 0 Box 16
717 993 2511
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C J Wonsidler Bros
R D 2
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Marlin W Schreffler
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RD 1
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101 South Lime Street
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Rmgtown, PA
717 889-3184
Tamaqua, PA
CharlesS Snyder Inc
R D 3
717 386 5954
West Chester, PA
M S Yearsley & Son
Churchville, MD
Woodstown, NJ
Owen Supply Co
Broad Street &
East Avenue
609-769-0308