82-Lancast«r Farming, Saturday, September 19, 1987
Extension Services’
Number One Secretary
SALLY BAIR
Lancaster Co. Correspondent
LANCASTER Lancaster
County has long been known as the
number one agricultural producer
in the state of Pennsylvania. Now
it also boasts the “number one”
secretary in the state, county and
University agricultural extension
offices.
It seems only fitting that Suzan
ne Schmalhofer, a veteran secret
ary at Lancaster’s Cooperative
Extension Service Office, was
honored by The Pennsylvania
State University chapter of Epsilon
Sigma Phi. The honorary society
for extension workers presented
Suzanne with their Extension Sec
retarial Award. This is the first
time it has come to Lancaster
County, since it was initiated in
1975.
The recognition came as a sur
prise to Suzanne, who was attend
ing a secretaries’ conference at
Penn State University with other
extension secretaries, when the
announcement was made. She
says, “I had no idea. I was sur
prised. I didn’t realize it was an
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County Extension Director Jay Irwin, left, presents
the Epsilon Sigma Phi Secretarial Award to Lancaster
County Extension Service Office Manager Suzanne
Schmalhofer. Established in 1975, the award recog
nizes outstanding work by a secretary in the county or
University Extension Service offices.
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It Is often Suzanne’s voice who greets the hundreds
of callers to the Extension Office. She said they try to
help everyone who calls by referring them to the prop
er agent or the appropriate agency.
annual thing.”
She adds, “I was happy that Jay
thought enough of me to nominate
me for the award.”
Indeed, County Extension
Director Jay Irwin was
that she was chosen for the
ronor, but not surprised. In his
nomination of Suzanne, he noted
her “positive and pleasant attitude”
and her understanding of the
Extension’s mission to supply
information to a wide range of
clientele.
Irwin said, “Suzanne has done
an excellent job in our county as
office manager. She coordinates
the whole work load and does it
very, very efficiently. We have a
tremendous workload, and
because of Suzanne we have one of
the most efficient offices in the
state.” He noted that the secretaries
do the work for seven professional
people, in addition to the total
Expanded Foods and Nutrition
program. Irwin adds, “It is a total
team effort for us, but every team
needs a leader and an inspiration.”
It is often Suzanne’s voice that
the thousands of callers hear when
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they dial the Lancaster County
Extension Service, and in her 24
years there she has gotten to know
a lot of people. “I like the clientele.
When I first started I worked with
4-H’ers who now have older
4-H’ers themselves. I have gotten
to know a lot of farmers.”
Suzanne began working for the
Extension Service when the office
was located in the Post Office
building in downtown Lancaster.
After she graduated from Lancas
ter Catholic High School where
she had taken academic work, she
chose not to go to college and
instead went to Lancaster Business
College. When she graduated from
there, personnel from the college
recommended that she apply for a
position with the Extension
Service.
She recalls, “Mr. Smith hired
me. I was 18 years-old and from
the city, but he said he’d try me.”
She laughs as she recalls not know
ing what Extension or 4-H was,
nor alfalfa, nor many other agricul
tural terms. “It was very educa
tional and a great learning experi
ence for me. It makes me appreci
ate what goes into making food,
and the hard work and long hours
farmers have.” She said she has
also learned a lot about cooking, as
she works with the home econom
ists in typing newsletters and
answering calls. “I learned that a
lot of what my mother did was
wrong.”
Retired County Extension
Director M. Max Smith says that
he was very pleased to learn of
Suzanne’s recognition. “She was
the kind of secretary that helped
you along. I think that having a
good secretary is one of the most
important assets for every execu
tive. She is the kind of girl that
every secretary should be.”
Smith admits that he had been
looking for a farm girl who “under
stood the language,” but adds,
“She had a lot of ability as a secret
ary and I had confidence in her.
She picked up the language real
quick. I was glad when I heard she
won the award because it showed I
made the right decision. She is
very deserving.”
Learning as she went along,
Suzanne says, “I loved it.” She
liked it so well, that after leaving
for six years and working for an
insurance company in Washing
ton, D.C., she came back when she
and her husband, Jim, moved to the
Lancaster area again. In total, she
has 24 years of service with the
office.
Suzanne credits Lauretta Kreid
er with helping her get an under
standing of the job, though Lauret
ta was part-time and Suzanne was
full time when she first took the
job. However, Lauretta had been
there and understood the office.
Later Lauretta became fulltime
and when Suzanne returned to
Lancaster the office had two full
time people. “It was Lauretta who
taught me the office procedure and
how to keep everyone happy.”
The staff has grown since those
earlier days, and Suzanne is now
office manager and supervises the
work of two other fulltime secreta
ries and one part-time secretary.
Occasionally this staff swells to
another part time worker in the
summer. She also keeps financial
records for the County Extension
Association, which has a budget of
$141,000.
Suzanne remembers happily
Suzanne Schmalhofer works at her word processor
where she spends a lot of time each day in her position
as head secretary and office manager at the Lancaster
County Extension Office.
when the Farm and Home Center
was built and the Extension Office
moved to its present location on
Arcadia Drive. “It was such an
improvement. It was like a hotel
compared to where we were.” She
notes that the whole office
encompassed about as much space
as the secretaries now have just for
themselves.
She feels the move was also
appreciated by most farmers since
there is lots of free parking avail
able at the Farm and Home Center.
Also, she says, they like it if they
come to her office looking for one
of the other agricultural agency
offices and she can tell them it’s
“just down the hall.”
She has gone through many
changes during the years she has
been employed with the Extension
Office. “We went from hand
folding and a crank mimeo to
machine folding and a copy
machine. We are also in the com
puter age. It was hard to get
adjusted to that, but the computer
is very helpful. “We’ve had com
puters for three years, and I never
thought I’d learn to like it like I
do.”
In addition to using the word
processor, Suzanne is efficient at
handling electronic mail, some
thing that she says is “efficient and
quick. If you send a memo in the
morning you get the answer by
afternoon. There is no need to
make phone calls, and there is less
mail.”
To learn to use the computer she
attended regional training semi
nars conducted by tht University,
but says, “I learned most just by
fooling around witß it.”
She remembers when the Exten
sion Service did its own testing of
lime, and when the mailing list was
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simply one large list. Now there
are individual mailing lists for
homemakers, dairy farmers, lives
tock farmers, and many others.
Typically, today’s caller is more
informed than in the days when she
first began working. Suzanne says,
“They are better able to explain
their problem there is more lit
erature available to them.”
She admits that there is a diver
sity of callers to their office. “We
get the strangest calls. Sometimes
they want you to say what they
know isn’t so. We get a lot of calls
from people who don’t know
where else to call.” It is these peo
ple that the secretaries must assist
by referring them to an agency that
is appropriate. Sometimes people
call and ask just what the purpose
of the Extension office is. She
adds, “A secretary is the first per
son someone talks to, so we try to
be pleasant. We set the tone for
their attitude.”
In his nomination of Suzanne,
Irwin noted that she is often will
ing to stay beyond 5:00 if there is
still work to be completed. This
calls for an understanding family,
and Suzanne gets complete sup
port from her husband and her
17-year-old daughter Laura.
Suzanne is quick to give credit
to the other fulltime secretaries,
Diane Groff and Gail Bubemack.
“We’re a team. I didn’t do any
thing really special. We all work
together.”
- One of the best aspects of the
job, according to Suzanne is the
variety. “I like it because it is never
boring. There is always something
we can do. I can honestly say I nev
er mind getting up in the morning
and going to work.”