4-H LEADER WINS COVETED STATE AWARD

Marjorie Swan, left, poses with others affiliated with 4-H clubs at the Missouri 4-H Foundation Spring Banquet and Volunteer Recognition Ceremony in Stockton on April 28. From the left are her son, Dr. Norman Swan of Knoxville, Tenn.; Swan; Dale Ludwig, executive director of the Missouri Soybean Foundation, Swan's daughter, Vida Stanard of Poplar Bluff; and Nelson Trickey, formerly of Pocahontas and now living in Columbia.

Marjorie Swan of Pocahontas has been associated with the local 4-H organization since that fateful day in 1950 when a teenager appeared at her doorstep and asked her if she could sew.

"I said I could sew a little," she replied to the girl, a member of the Pocahontas 4-H Club. "She said she needed a 'leader' in her clothing project.

"That was my introduction to 4-H and I've thanked that girl many times over the years for coming to my house and getting me on the right track."

That track has led -- after 45 years -- to Swan being named the winner of the Missouri 4-H Foundation's top honor, the Naomi Crouch Leadership Award.

At the foundation's Volunteer Recognition Ceremony on April 28 in Stockton, Swan choked back emotions as testimonials were read noting her dedication to 4-H activities.

"It was very touching," she said, adding she was given a standing ovation as she received a plaque. Thirty people were nominated for the award.

Swan's contributions to the Pocahontas 4-H Club were publicly noted at the ceremony:

She was the club's community leader for 35 years, assistant community leader for 10 years, served 13 years as leader/adviser to the Cape Girardeau County Junior Leaders Club, and throughout her 45 years of association with the 4-H Club she was project leader for foods, clothing and home improvement.

A member of the Cape Girardeau County Extension Council for 40 years, at one time or another Swan served on all of the 15 4-H county committees.

Although too old to be a 4-H Club member in 1950 -- ages are from 9 to 19; she was in her 20s -- Swan, it was emphasized at the ceremony, realized the importance of 4-H activities and each of her five children joined the club.

Her daughter, Vida Stanard of Poplar Bluff, director of admissions at Three Rivers Community College there, and a Missouri 4-H Foundation trustee, said her mother's commitment to 4-H is "amazing, especially lately, as she continues her 4-H work long after her children have outgrown the Pocahontas 4-H Club. Her youngest child is 43!"

In a newspaper article many years ago, Swan offered: "4-H leads you on to higher education. And some went on to college that might not otherwise had gone."

Swan has had a positive impact on about the 260 4-H'ers she has helped over the years. She has written several articles for the "National 4-H News." She was instrumental in organizing the state 4-H Exchange Program.

"The club offers so much for so many different types of young people," said Swan. "There's a place in 4-H for almost everyone. I have seen how 4-H has helped my kids. It builds good values in young people. No doubt about it."

The name 4-H stands for heads, hands, heart and health, and the beginning of the organization is said to date to 1862.

At the height of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Land-Grant College Act. As the century passed that date -- July 2, 1862 -- became known as the birth date of a national system of education for the poor as well as the privileged. The act laid the foundation for "club work."

In 1914 Congress passed the Smith-Lever Act and the Cooperative Extension Service was born. Historians call it the starting mark of club work, and the clubs were organizations of rural youths.

From 1914 to 1964, a half million of Missouri's young people were enrolled in the state's Extension Youth Program. In the early years the program operated under the title of Boys and Girls Club Work.

Came 1927 and its name was changed to 4-H Club Work. Over the decades the youth program broadened to reach into towns and small cities.

Since 4-H club work began in 1914, voluntary local leadership has been the foundation stone of the program.

"If parents were involved in 4-H when they were young, often their kids will follow," said Swan. "The club teaches citizenship, respect for the flag, the country and each other.

"Good health habits are taught and so is safety. The club makes kids better all-around Christian citizens. At the beginning of each meeting we recite the 'Pledge of Allegiance,' then the 4-H pledge."

The Pocahontas club, which currently has 22 members, meets one evening a month. For six months out of a year the meetings are held at the Zion Church; St. John's Church opens to the club the other six months.

Swan says that in the early years of 4-H clubs youths were involved in projects based largely on agriculture and home economics for rural boys and girls. Planners believed most of the youths would remain on farms after leaving school.

But as the years ensued a concept developed that club work could contribute to the needs and interests of all boys and girls, including those in small towns and urban areas. New projects were designed.

Today, kids in the program can become involved in projects dealing with agriculture, beef, citizenship, clothing, crops, dairy, entomology (insects), foods, forestry, home grounds and home environment.

Also, horse and horsemanship, horticulture, poultry, science, small engines, sheep, swine and soil conservation.

Projects centered around how to manage a home were offered as early as 1922. Youths learned -- and still do -- the following:

-- how to brighten a spot;

-- how to create a pleasant place to eat;

-- how to arrange a place to sleep;

-- how to organize a place for everything;

-- how to provide a place to work or play;

-- how to fashion a grooming center;

-- and how to decorate a room.

"My favorite project has always been how to brighten a spot," said Swan, smiling. "If a girl or boy can't afford to redo their entire room, they can still brighten part of it.

"They can refinish a chest of drawers, put up pictures or make a new bedspread or pillows ... many opportunities."

Swan says the kids in the clubs elect their own officers and choose their own projects. Adults, she says, supervise but try not to make decisions for the kids.

Projects are commonly put on display at county fairs and ribbons, sometimes money, are awarded.

Other activities involve campouts, picnics and trips to Jefferson City and Washington, D.C., to learn about government.

Swan says she's been in the organization so long she can usually predict how long a new member will stay, be it two years or 10.

"I've worked with a lot of good people, and I plan to continue as long as the good Lord lets me.

"When you stay with something 45 years as a volunteer, it has to mean a lot to you. I hope in some small way I've made positive input into kids' lives."

She has. Darlene Reisenbichler Bannister, a former Pocahontas 4-H'er and a teacher for over 20 years, wrote this in a letter to Marjorie Swan:

"Although your influence on me and many others was not in a formal educational setting it was nonetheless just as significant. ... The more we mature the more we do appreciate. You made a difference."

Marjorie Swan holds the plaque she was recently awarded for her 45 years of work with the Pocahontas 4-H Club. She was named the top volunteer in the state. (Photo by Jim Obert)

Marjorie Swan, left, poses with others affiliated with 4-H clubs at the Missouri 4-H Foundation Spring Banquet and Volunteer Recognition Ceremony in Stockton on April 28. From the left are her son, Dr. Norman Swan of Knoxville, Tenn.; Swan; Dale Ludwig, executive director of the Missouri Soybean Foundation, Swan's daughter, Vida Stanard of Poplar Bluff; and Nelson Trickey, formerly of Pocahontas and now living in Columbia.