Cake Baker Raises
JOYCE BUPP
York Co. Correspondent
YORK (York Co.) If you
want to sample one of Lois Rank
in’s cakes, be prepared to have
your checkbook handy.
Lois, a 4-H parent and agricul
ture extension office staffer, has
raised several thousand dollars for
York County 4-H programs with
her decorated cakes.
Her most recent creation of
sweet dough, smothered in icing
and ornamented with pictures of a
steer, sheep and hog, was offered
as the kickoff item for the York
Fair’s Junior Livestock Sale, held
September 17 at the York Fair
grounds. By the time the chocolate
and white sheet cake had been pur
chased, donated back, and
resold —eight times—sB2s had
been raised to send the county’s
state-winning meats judging team
to national competition.
Auctioning off Lois’ cakes at
the junior livestock sales is a tradi
tion that began in 1982—by acci
dent.
“They wanted to have cake to
serve at the beef and lamb roundup
that year,” recalls Lois. “Our
daughter, Krista, volunteered me.”
To serve the large crowd of
buyers, 4-H’ers and parents, Lois
arrived at the roundup with 11
sheet cakes. Some were simply
decorated with trim in the 4-H col
ors of yellow and green, while oth
ers were a bit more elaborate.
“Someone decided we should
give one to Weikert’s, who hosted
the auction; then they decided to
auction another one,” she adds.
Lois does not remember the final
bid price for that first cake, but
believes it sold for less than $lOO.
“The next sar I did another
one, and then the next year, and
then it got to be a tradition,” she
explains. When their son, Jason,
joined the swine club, this sup
portive 4-H mother offered to dec
orate a cake for that roundup auc
tion as well. In numerous cases,
the final buyer of the cake has gen
erously donated it to the 4-H mem
bers to eat and enjoy.
Though her cakes have gener
ated enthusiastic bidding over the
last dozen years, Lois vehemently
insists that she is not a profession
al cake decorator. Nevertheless,
she baked the cakes for the wed
dings of both their daughters,
Krista and Karena. The first one,
she says, was fairly plain,- but she
grew braver with the second
attempt, and included a fountain
layout.
A native of Punxsatawney,
Lois and her husband, Bill fanned
strawberries and vegetables for
several years near Rochester, New
York, while he was employed by
the Curtice-Bums vegetable pro
cessing company. It was there that
her interests in both cake decorat
ing and 4-H took root.
“My neighbor tried to teach me
cake decorating, but I was to
“dumb” to learn,” she chuckles.
“And I took an extension course
on making icing roses, but I just
couldn’t get them right.” Frustrat
ed with her class progress, Lois
bought a few books on cake deco
rating and taught herself by prac
ticing at home.
While developing her cake dec
orating skills, Lois was also
branching out into another ven
ture —4-H leadership. Though she
did not “grow up” in 4-H, Lois
admired and respected what the
im had to offer youth. And
Dough For
4-H leadership fit with her love of
working with children and the ele
mentary education degree she
earned from Indiana University of
Pennsylvania.
In 1982, Bill was hired by
Hanover Foods to oversee its
extensive vegetable production
operation. Alter getting settled into
a new home in western York Coun
ty, the Rankins immediately
became active in the Thomasville
Community 4-H Club. Both Krista
and Karena raised breeding beef
cattle. Cattle raising space at the
Rankins was limited, so then Jason,
the youngest, entered 4-H, he grew
capons, and then market hogs.
“Neither Bill nor I had the
background in those projects, so
the kids had to learn skills, like fit
ting, by themselves. The 4-H pro
gram teaches responsibility. I
don’t know where else kids can
learn the abilities and skills that
they can in 4-H,” says this devoted
supporter of the agriculture exten
sion youth program.
She credits their children’s inter
ests in attending college and career
goals to 4-H; Krista is employed by
Ciba-Geiby and Jason attends the
York campus of Penn State.
With Jason about to “graduate”
from 4-H, Lois Rankin’s 4-H role
as an active and supportive parent
was drawing toward a close last
year. Then, an extension office job
opening thrust her into a new role,
as a 4-H and ag science assistant.
“I assist,” she quips, in sum
ming up her responsibilities, pri
marily in extension and 4-H live
stock programs, as well as public
relations activities.
Lois also serves as coordinator
of York County’s Gypsy Moth
Pr»- -am, monitorir mlation
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, October 29, 1994-817
tradition at York 4-H livestock roundup sales is the
auctioning of a cake baked and decorated by Lois Rankin.
The cake sales have generated thousands of dollars of
support for special 4-H livestock programs.
levels of the destructive woodlot ‘ h °t spots’ that are around, and so
insect and working with areas they’re expected to spread. All the
determined to warrant spray appli- conditions appeared to be right for
cations for its control. them this year in York County.”
“Gypsy moth infestations are
becoming a problem again,” she
says. “We’re projecting them to be
worse next year because of some
“Kids are my interest,” she says
adamantly, adding with a grin “And
now I can stay in 4-H.”