Farm & Home Board Warned Of Nation’s Struggle
BY SALLY BAIR
Lancaster Co. Correspondent
LANCASTER Four incum
bents and three new directors were
elected to serve on Board of the
Lancaster County Farm and Home
Foundation at its annual meeting
last Thursday.
Re-elected were: J. Everett
Kreider, R.D. 2, Quarryville; Jay
E. Landis, Short Lane, Lancaster;
Mrs. Bonnie Miller, Landis Valley
Road, Lancaster; and Larry H.
Skromme, Landis Valley Road,
Lancaster.
Newly elected are: Mrs. Carol
Henkel, Stively Road, Strasburg;
Mrs. Joan Hershey, R.D. 1, Mount
Joy; and Mrs. Lilli Ann Kopp,
R.D. 3, Mount Joy.
Don and Cheryl Eberly, Lancas
ter County natives, spoke to the
group about their experiences liv
ing and working in Washington,
D.C. Cheryl, the daughter of David
and Mary Buckwalter, worked for
three years as an aide to Mrs.
Ronald Reagan, and continues
working on a “pictorial history” of
Mrs. Reagan’s years in the White
House with the National Archives.
Traveling to Washington occa
sionally to share her elaborate
scrapbooks with Mrs. Reagan,
Cheryl says this job “gives this
mother at home just the glamour
she needs." She and her husband
have a pre-school son and
daughter.
Working in the East Wing as
Deputy Projects Director for the
First Lady, Cheryl called her work
“exquisite agony.”
She explained that it was
exquisite in that she was “really
feeling the heartbeat of the White
House.” She had the experience of
traveling on Air Force planes,
meeting foreign leaders and travel
ing in limousines as part of
motorcades.
The agony was the “enormous
workload,” and the knowledge that
every detail is scrutinized closely.
Part of Cheryl’s job was helping to
answer some of the 100 letters a
day that come to Mrs. Reagan. The
President, Cheryl said, gets 15,000
letters a day. Mrs. Reagan reads as
many of the letters as she can,
according to Cheryl, showing a
special interest in letters concern
ing her project on drugs.
Now living in East Hcmpfield
Township in Lancaster County,
Don says they both feel that it is
"an island of health.” The son of
John and Pearl Eberly, Don served
on the communications staff at the
White House, was an aide to Rep
resentative Robert Walker, was a
member of Jack Kemp’s think tank
to form the Presidential candi
date’s policy. Recently finished
with a year of study at Harvard,
Don is now president of the Com
monwealth Foundation, designed
to study public policy in
Pennsylvania.
In a more serious tone, Don said
he feels there is a “contest between
two starkly different sets of val
ues” in this country. He said the
Judeo-Christian values upon
which this country was founded
have “come under extreme test in
the middle of this century.”
Criticizing the trend toward
being “value neutral,” Don said
many have ceased to believe. He
also said that the founding fathers
felt there should be a free market of
competition while men showed
self-reliance. Now, he says, the
trend is to control the market and
show no personal responsibility.
Eberly said further that poverty
has been directly related to fami
lies not forming, either through
single parent families or families
lion of Lancaster County Include: Seated- Carol Henkel,
Strasburg (left), and Bonnie Miller, Lancaster. Standing-
Joan Hershey, Mount Joy; Larry Skromme, Lancaster; Jay
Landis, Lancaster; and Lilli Ann Kopp, Mount Joy.
breaking up. He said, Family n e sa j d) further, that totalitarian
strength is the surest route to inde- j sm j $ in retreat around the world,
pendence. He cited studies that He addcd h of free .
show that fewer than one percent dom is often felt most keenly by
of those who graduate from high those who don’t have it,” citing the
school, get a job, and get married, Berlin Wall as the most powerful
live in poverty. symbol in the world of lack of
Eberly credits the eight years of freedom.
Reagan s leadership to showing a He said that the future greatness
strengthening of values and ideals.
Lancaster
(Continued from Page A 1)
Management of U.S.D.A., serving
under the supervision of “superin
tendent of Agricultural Extension”
at The Pennsylvania State College.
The Pennsylvania legislature
passed a bill allowing county com
missioners to authorize funds up to
$l5OO for Agricultural Extension
work in 1913, and it was in 1914
that the Smith-Lever Act was
passed, providing funds on a
national level.
That was the beginning of the
three-way relationship which
makes the “cooperative” Exten
sion Service a unique venture in
providing broad-based education.
Funding continues to be provided
from the state and federal govern
ments through Penn State Univer
sity, and on a county level through
the County Commissioners. It’s
mission is to get the results of
research and education at the Uni
versity level to the citizens of the
Commonwealth.
Today the Extension Service in
Lancaster County is strongly sup
ported by the County Commis
sioners, but in 1938 the executive
committee decided to ask the
Commissioners for $3500, after
they said they would only budget
$2500.
From the beginning, an execu
tive committee was organized in
the county to provide leadership to
the county agent, and extension
work was done through the Farm
Bureau. The Farm Bureau - Exten
sion connection continued until
1923. As Farm Bureau became
more involved in marketing, it was
felt that the strictly educational
Extension Service should go its
own way.
Minutes show that the executive
committee noted that the split was
not made because of bad feelings,
but for the good of Extension. It
was at that time the Lancaster
County Cooperative Extension
Association was formed. It is that
Board of Directors that continues
to lead Extension today.
Dutch Bucher had his work cut
out for him, as he tried to show that
Extension could offer help to
everyone. Bucher’s knowledge of
Pennsylvania Dutch was consid-
Extension
ered a great advantage in working
with the local fanners.
Reminiscing on his work in
1963, the 50th anniversary of his
appointment to Lancaster County,
Dutch recalled, “We used to tell
farmers how to make two blades of
grass where one grew before, but
nowadays the young agents have
to find what to do with that extra
blade.”
Getting around the county was
not easy, and when Bucher
explained the difficulty to the
Executive Committee he was
advised “to use the trolleys to best
advantage and hire a livery team to
more remote places.” Shortly
afterward he purchased a horse for
his work, but when an automobile
was considered the motion was
“deferred to some time later.” In
1914, Bucher purchased the
motorcycle which became his
trademark.
He became a well known sight,
speeding around the county on his
motorcycle. And he became well
respected, and well loved. A com
ment in the minutes of February
12, 1942, stated, “Mr. Bucher
shortened his report considerably
but every Lancaster County farmer
knows he is virtually an ency
clopedia on almost any phase of
farm activity.”
In October, 1916, Bucher
reported to the Board that he has
visited 311 farms, held 20 meet
ings with 2,330 in attendance, gave
9 demonstration meetings and dis
tributed 1125 letters. He also said
he traveled 655 miles by rail and
5,412 miles by “motor.”
Dutch Bucher set the standard
for the many extension agents who
would follow him, including Harry
Sloat who was hired in 1921 and
M. Max Smith, hired in 1937.
Eventually, Smith became the
longest tenured county agent, by
serving 44 years in a county that he
came to love.
The minutes reflected agents’
attention to problems such as pests
and insects, soils, brucellosis and
increased production. There was
also time spent attracting farmers’
interest in a “cow testing
association.”
Home economist Anne Forbes
Jt arvin Boyd, right,
chats with Don and Cheryl Eberly, Lancaster County
natives, who related their experiences working In Washing
ton, D.C. and the White House. They now reside In East
Hempfield Township in Lancaster County.
of the United States depends on offered at $l,OOO each to students
whose set of values prevails. majoring in home economics and
County Agent Jay Irwin agriculture,
reported that 267 scholarships tot- President Darvin Boyd thanked
aling $176,300 have been awarded former Directors Sally Bair, Eve
by the Foundation, and in 1988 tyn Crider and Ruth Nissley who
there will be 12 scholarships chose not to run for re-election.
was hired in 1922, and proceeded
to work with homemakers in help
ing them with better home man
agement, child development,
infant care and nutrition.
Both the agents and the home
economists worked at establishing
youth activities, and the com clubs
and “round-ups” gained interest
from neighboring counties. The
com clubs eventually became 4-H
project clubs, and in 1924 Home
Economist Forbes reported to the
Extension Board that “90 girls
were engaged in some kind of club
work.” She also reported working
with kitchen arrangements and
home furnishings. One of her
interests was promoting safe home
water supplies.
Today Extension continues to
provide the community with the
latest in research, both in agricul-
Wofhope Reigns
As Hereford Queen
Tawnya Wolfhope (left) of Schellsburg has been crowned
the Pennsylvania Polled Hereford queen for this year and
Kristin Pettit, Sycamore, will serve as princess. The two
received these honors January 12, at the Pennsylvania
Farm Show. Wolfhope, 17, Is Involved at school with
S.A.D.D., F.8.L.A., Library Club, track and is on the year
book staff. She is also a member of the Beef Rustlers 4-H
Club. At age 14, Pettit is active In volleyball, girls softball,
Beta, Spanish Club and is the girls basketball manager. As a
4-H member, Pettit Is on the county 4-H council.
ture and in family living.
The advent of the computer, and
its accessability to fanners and
homemakers alike, has enabled
farmers to take an even better look
at their operations. Through Pen-
Pages, countians are able to link
directly with computers at the Uni
versity to have up-to-the-minute
information in a wide variety of
fields.
Lancaster County Extension has
helped to keep the Garden Spot a
leader in agriculture and continues
to provide guidance in family liv
ing programs and 4-H that are
available to all the citizens of the
county. It has adapted to tremend
ous change throughout the twen
tieth century and continues to face
the challenge as it moves toward
the twenty-first century, serving
all of Lancaster County.