Elsie Newman, who turned 80 in March, was raised on a Wood County cattle farm along with her four siblings. They were all 4-H members.
“We had cattle and chickens at the Wood County Fair,” Newman recalled. “When I was about 14, I had a Jersey calf that I put some kind of hair tonic on, and the judge told me I must have brushed it a lot because it’s coat was so smooth.”
She also remembers the year she entered a greased pig contest.
“I was the youngest one in my fair class for that contest. I had to walk … to the fairgrounds with rope in hand. I was nearly winded when I got there. That was about 1950 or 1951.
“When the event was over, I took the pig home and raised it. That next January, we weighed the pigs and they were classified by weight. They chose the best three, and mine was one of them.”
Newman also remembers entering a bicycle-riding contest one year.
“It was a dirt track, and I didn’t do very well.”
Newman’s father, Carroll Frank, and uncle, Homer Frank, were involved with the fair.
“The family started the Duke’s Mixture 4-H Club,” Newman said.
Newman graduated from Bowling Green High School in 1961 and went on to attend Bowling Green State University.
While a student at BGSU, she took a few years off but returned and then graduated in 1968.
She married Lawrence Newman, who was a teacher at Whitmer High School, which is part of Washington Local Schools in the northern Toledo area.
“He taught industrial education and driver’s education, Newman said.
Carroll Frank, passed away in 2000 after serving 70 years in 4-H. Her mother, Grace, was also involved.
“My mother served 44 years in 4-H. That’s a long time they served in volunteer leadership.”
Newman said other family members also served as 4-H advisers.
“My grandfather, Homer Frank, had a part in growing the local 4-H clubs,” she said. “My son (Timothy) was about 10 when he joined 4-H, and my daughter, Jennifer, joined about five years later.”
Newman said she has other family members who were in 4-H and are now advisers.
“Our family is nearly 100% 4-H.”
(Editor’s note: This story has been corrected – Aug. 1, 2023.)
