I joined 4-H when I was around ten years old. We would have our meetings at members farms. Our leaders were Warren Severs and Neil Bolin. They were both very nice and helpful men. My projects were hogs and cows. I also did a home improvement project helping my dad beautify our yard with wooden fences that we painted. I usually did very well with my animal projects at the Butler County fair. I received a purple ribbon on my litter of eleven. When I sold them, I only got $17 per 100 lbs. One year I bought a Holstein heifer from my dad’s cousin, raised it and took it to the fair. It won Champion yearling heifer. The fun part of the fair was getting to sleep over in the barns with other 4-Hers. We would sleep on the bales of straw and hay. Lots of fun being with the other guys. A strange little thought I have is that one of the guys told me that when I went to high school I would be nicknamed Fenney. He was right. Some of the guys still call me that now. One of the bright spots of 4-H was when I was chosen to go to Chicago to the International Livestock Show. We were in Chicago 4 days. We went to the Loop, livestock yards, Shedd aquarium, Hall of Science,Field Museum etc, One year I was a counselor at state camp in Boone. I went to camp in clear Lake. I served as secretary on the County Council. I was chosen to be in a group of four to compete at crop judging at State Fair. A friend Don Heinselman and I gave demonstrations on how to clean milking equipment at Cattle Congress and we did well. I took short courses at Ames, Iowa and learned about meat judging at Rath Packing Co. and went to a judging camp at Iowa State. I played on a county wide 4-H softball team. We played in Ackley and ended up Champions. I thoroughly enjoyed my years in the club.
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