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N.D. 4-H Volunteers, Longtime Families Honored

Two volunteers were inducted into the North Dakota 4-H Hall of Fame.

Morris Davidson of Grand Forks and Louise Rethemeier of Arvilla have been inducted into the North Dakota 4-H Hall of Fame.

The North Dakota 4-H Foundation also honored five families as 4-H century families for 2014-15.

These individuals and families were honored at a recognition ceremony on the North Dakota State University campus.

“The North Dakota 4-H Foundation appreciates the leadership and commitment that the Hall of Fame and Century Family recipients have given to the 4-H program,” says Leann Schafer, chair of the North Dakota 4-H Foundation board. “Together we continue to help young people develop their leadership, public speaking and decision-making skills to prepare them to be tomorrow’s leaders.”

Those inducted into the 4-H Hall of Fame have at least 15 years of involvement in 4-H at the local, county or state level beyond membership in the organization as a youth.

Davidson joined 4-H at age 10 in Bottineau County. His favorite projects were the animal projects. In 1976, Davidson took the position of agriculture agent for the NDSU Extension Service in Grand Forks County.

For many years, he coached the livestock and crop judging teams, and took many of them to Little International and Winter Show contests. He assisted with Achievement Day and the county fair when it returned in the early 1980s. He also was instrumental in reorganizing staff responsibilities in the Extension office so the county could have a full-time 4-H agent in the 1990s.

Davidson became a part-time Extension district director in 1995 and was located in Grand Forks County. As a district director, he continued to support and encourage staff and made sure they had the resources they needed for 4-H events because a common topic during yearly performance reviews was what programs agents were doing to support 4-H in their county. He made sure agents could provide the basic programming needs of 4-H.

He retired from Extension in 2003 but continues to support the Grand Forks 4-H program by judging at the county fair and communication arts events. He enjoys spending time with youth and seeing them in action.

Rethemeier has been given several awards for her work with 4-H. She was named the Grand Forks County Representative 4-H Club Leader in 1986, an award sponsored by the Grand Forks County commissioners. She received the Meritorious Service to 4-H Award in 1990 and the Friend of 4-H Award in 2012.

4-H has been an important part of Rethemeier’s life, and she made sure it was part of her family’s life for the next two generations. Her work has impacted hundreds of 4-H’ers through the years.

Any family whose years as 4-H members, leaders and/or volunteers add up to 100 or more is eligible to be named a North Dakota 4-H century family. Those receiving that designation this year are the:

  • Jon Beneda family of Walsh County, with a combined 105 years of service in 4-H
  • Grinde-Bergstrom family of Traill County, with a combined 116 years of service in 4-H
  • Kermit and Marcy Hansen family of Ward and Cass counties, with a combined 102 years of service in 4-H
  • Mitchell Leier family of Logan County, with a combined 116 years of service in 4-H
  • The Lind family of Burke and Pierce counties, with a combined 109 years of service in 4-H

NDSU Agriculture Communication - Dec. 1, 2015

Source:Meredith Gilroy, (701) 231-8569, meredith.gilroy@ndsu.edu
Editor:Ellen Crawford, (701) 231-5391, ellen.crawford@ndsu.edu
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