82-Lancast*r Farming, Saturday, Novembar 14, 1987
On
BY SALLY BAIR
Lancaster Co. Correspondent
EPHRATA Last Saturday
when Florence Vaitl was sworn in
as president of the Lancaster
County Society of Farm Women,
she was carrying on a family tradi
tion. Florence, Ephrata, is the third
generation of her family to be a
member of Society #3.
She has been attending county
board meetings regularly as sec
ond vice president, but Florence
recalls that this was not her first
experience going to county board,
saying, “My mother was county
secretary, and I tyent to my first
executive board meeting when I
was three-weeks-old.” Her
mother, Esther Stuber, also partici
pated in the county convention last
weekend, recalling with others
events from the history of the
county organization.
Florence adds. “I grew up in a
family where you went to Farm
Women on the third Saturday of
the month.” Children went along
to meetings, and sometimes there
may have been 20 to 30 children. It
was a natural move, then, for her to
become a full-fledged member at
14.
Her grandmother, Florence
Mohler, was a charter member of
Society #3. About her grand
mother, Florence says, “For her
time, she was very progressive in
her thinking. I have my grand
mother’s diaries, and they were a
very independent group of farm
women.”
The first societies in Pennsylva
nia were founded 70 years ago, and
Florence says the idea was a good
one for the time. With the life of
rural women and farm women con
siderably different then, it gave
women a chance to socialize with
others. Florence says, “Remem
ber, they didn’t even have
electrification.”
Farm women took care of the
house and the children, and for
most of them, the chickens and
garden were also their responsibil
ity, according to Florence. “When
I was a child, many of the prog
rams were geared toward making
the work that we had to do easier.
We had programs on how to care
Florence Vaftl, new president of the Lancaster County
Society of Farm Women, goes over some of the records at
the kitchen table in heNEphrata home. Florence has been a
member of Society #3 since she was 14 and Is the third gen
eration of her family to be a member.
Vaitl Carries
Family Tradition
for the children, how to can foods
safely, how to cook to maintain
nutrients and other things to make
life easier and better. Now our
programs are interesting and sti
mulating, but they don’t necessari
ly improve what we do. We are
now all better educated.”
However, Florence noted with
amusement that a recent Farm
Women program she visited fea
tured a lady who does her own
spinning. “We’ve come full
circle,” she concludes.
Florence is jumping premature
ly into the president’s seat, instead
of following the traditional route
of being elected to serve two years
as second vice president, and two
years as first vice president. She
began serving her term as second
vice-president, but quickly moved
up the line of succession when first
vice-president Hazel Ulrich remar
ried and realized she would be
spending much of her time out of
the area. Florence is not too con
cerned about the lapse, saying, “I
have a very good first vice
president, and we will be electing a
second vice president”
Her experience as past state
president of the Pennsylvania
Association of County-Affiliated
Homes and as a graduate of the
Leadership Lancaster will help her
as she assumes her new role.
Florence stales simply, “I hope
to be an effective county president.
There are some areas I want to look
at, such as health. After all, we are
an aging organization.” Florence
estimates that the average age of
the society members is 60, and
says that there are fewer charter
members left.
She notes, “Right now, we are
expected to have one safely meet
ing a year, and I would like to sec
that expanded to health. Health is
an issue I want to deal with.” She
said the original intent of asking
societies to hold a safety meeting
had to do with educating them
about the need for farm safety, par
ticularly with children. “It was a
major thrust get children off
farm equipment.”
Another area of concern, she
would like to address during her
presidency is that of legislative
concerns. “All women should be
active with good government, and
we should be more aware of our
individual roles in good govern
ment at all levels.”
It made her happy that speakers
at the recognition of Farm Women
Day were both in government, and
Florence noted that perhaps this
could become a tradition. “I am
inclined to promote it was a gov
ernment day. We need to get better
awareness in our local societies.”
One of the speakers at the Farm
Women Day program was Pen
nsylvania Senator Noah Wenger,
whom Florence referred to as “a
mover and shaker” in the farmland
preservation movement. “He did
stimulate some controversy and
some questions.”
The new county president says
she understands the farmland pre
servation issue is “very controver
sial” and that there are “many sides
to the coin.” Nevertheless, she said
that since 20 percent of the people
make their living in farming or
agri-business, it is an important
part of the economy.
She adds, “I think we are in the
business of helping to feed the
world. I know there are surpluses,
but there arc also hungry people in
the world. The problem has not
been handled well. To lose farm
land is to diminish our productivity
to feed the world. The world’s
population is growing.”
Florence also feels strongly that
it must be preserved throughout
the state, and she adds, “As long as
there is a reasonable amount of
farmland and rural people, there
will be those who arc interested in
preserving the rural way of life,
and willing to be members of Farm
Women.”
Since her membership in Farm
Women included a 20 year hiatus
while she lived elsewhere in Pen
nsylvania, Florence dates her
involvement in Farm Women here
in two segments. She says, “I was
president of my society in my other
life in Lancaster County. When I
returned it was just like I had never
left.” She was in line to be presi
dent of her society again while
serving as first vice-president of
the county, but since she moved
right into the presidency, she said
she could never do both.
Since her society is in the
middle of a major building prog
ram, working on a mobile kitchen
to be used at their food booth at the
Ephrata Fair, Florence says it will
work out nicely for the present
president to continue in the role
and carry the project through to
completion. Selling food at the
Ephrata Fair is the major fundrais
er of Society 3.
Working in the kitchen at the
fair is a pleasure for Florence, and
she gives credit to the members’
husbands for their help. “One of
the things we forget is that we
couldn’t do all this without the
support of our husbands. It takes
time and effort, and the men are
very supportive and they help a lot
at the fair.” Her society recognizes
the men once a year in appreciation
for their understanding the “late
suppers and the missed meals.”
Florence feels strongly that the
Farm Women Societies are filling
a need for their members and for
the communities. Last year they
gave in excess of $lO,OOO in chari
ties, and as a county group they
donated SS,6SO to the Water Street
Rescue Mission and the Make A
Newly Installed president. lOrence vam encourages the
farm women societies to make the next 70 years as memor
ial as the last 70.
-...ici ui ner Ept ,s
she begins her presidency, she Is looking forward to carry
ing on a family tradition of Farm Women service begun by
her grandmother.
Wish Foundation. “They do a lot
of volunteer work, and they serve
as a support system for each
other,” Florence explains.
Serving as county president will
keep Florence moving, and she
said she looks forward to visiting
many of the county societies.
However, her professional life as a
licensed nursing home administra
tor will soon be in full swing, and
she s'aid she will have to curtail the
number of meetings she can
attend.
Also, Florence adds, “My fami
ly is really important to me.” Her
family includeS'busband Rudolf,
three children and four step
children.
She enjoys church work at
*komesiead
c f/oifis
Bethany United Church of Christ,
and in her spare lime likes to go to
flea markets. She said she also
likes to use her long “row of cook
books,” and “I never get enough
reading done.”
Florence admits that she is “con
cerned” about the future of Farm
Women, noting that her own socie
ty has just one charter member still
living. She adds, “The charter
members of other societies arc
well up in years.”
However, with three genera
tions of farm women in her history,
she is looking forward to carrying
on a personal tradition, and a tradi
tion which she feels is good for
farm women members and for the
community.