Posted on July 18, 2012 at 2:43 PM by Global Reach
Allan and Jeanne Rogis from rural DeWitt have a long history with Clinton County 4-H. Jeanne has been involved in some aspect of 4-H for over 50 years, as a member of the Minnehaha club and a leader of the DeWitt DDD club as an adult. Allan became involved with 4-H as a rabbit superintendent when their daughters, Carla and Sara, were 4-H members in the 1980’s and 1990’s.
Allan served the 4-H community in many capacities over the last 30 years, including being on the rabbit committee, the youth committee for six years and currently serving on the Extension Council. Not only does Allan have a passion for 4-H, but he is also actively involved in the preservation of the pioneer cemeteries in Clinton County serving on the Clinton County Pioneer Cemetery Board.
Allan feels 4-H builds teamwork and a sense of family. He remembers one year all the tags to the rabbit cages got ripped off. 4-Hers entering rabbits quickly worked as a team to get them redone in a matter of about 15 minutes. There were rabbit cages and supplies everywhere, but it all got done without any complaints.
Jeanne was a 4-H leader before she and Allan were married, so 40 years ago at their wedding reception the girls of the DDD 4-H club were the hostesses.
Jeanne’s 4-H memories include going to the 3 day camp at Madrid when she was about 14 years old and states the highlight of her own 4-H years was getting selected to attend the Citizenship-Washington Focus trip. Ted Kennedy shook their hands and gave them a pass into the Capitol.
Jeanne’s mother, Margaret Cousins, was a long-time Clinton County 4-H leader, inspiring Jeanne to follow in her footsteps. In the 1980’s, Jeanne was a co-chair on the first E-SET state committee that was instrumental in encouraging clubs to explore aerospace activities for their members. In November of 1989 the Multi-generational Participation in 4-H through the Clinton County 4-H Cooperative Award honored Jeanne, her mother and her daughter Carla, who was then a 4-H member. Carla went on to be a member of the State 4-H Council.
Over the years, Allan and Jeanne have had some 4-H chuckles, from having to deal with the calamity of rabbits being born at the fair, to the first year their daughter had a rabbit project entered as a female, but ended up being a male. Jeanne, who just retired from 39 years of teaching and the last 25 as a science teacher, heard someone in the crowd say “And what does her mother teach?”. It was not until after college that their daughter, Sara, told them the essay she wrote that got her a Presidential Scholarship was about her rabbit projects in 4-H and what she learned over her 4-H years.
Now that Jeanne is retired, and still living on the century family farm, it will be very likely that she and Allan will continue to volunteer in many aspects of Clinton County 4-H. As a Hall of Fame Inductee, Allan and Jeanne deserve recognition for their 50+ years of being directly involved in the Clinton County 4-H program.
Categories: Clinton
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