Posted on August 26, 2016 at 8:56 AM by Emily Saveraid
Mr. Bob Jones was a 4-H member of the Mahaska County Garfield Boosters Club from 1938-1948, after a neighbor stopped by and told his father the boys needed to be in 4-H. His father, Tom Jones, was never in 4-H, but saw the benefits of 4-H and became a leader the following year to help his children stay involved in the program. That involvement continued as Bob became a
4-H club leader for 7 years with the Garfield Boosters club and watched over 50 youth grow and become adults. Besides, being involved as a leader, Bob served on 4-H council for 3 years and was a Southern Iowa Fair Board member for 15 years where he helped make several improvements on the fairgrounds.
During his 4-H years, Bob raised hogs, sheep and dairy cattle and won the herdsmanship award 3 years in a row. Even though he did not have any experience with beef cows, he was asked to show one for a friend who had two that year and Bob was honored to win herdsmanship again. Besides livestock, Bob also had a garden project that taught him many things.
Following 4-H, Bob was employed by Maytag at their dairy farm where he used his 4-H show experience to show cattle for Maytag. Not only did his 4-H experience help him with employment, Bob also learned how to speak in public and how to do proper record keeping. With that experience, it lead him to have a successful business of 55 years as owner of The Wilcox Garland Furniture Store in Oskaloosa. He served as president of the Oskaloosa Chamber of Commerce, Oskaloosa Rotary and the Iowa Jay Cees. Record keeping not only helped in his business career, it also was a very important skill in keeping him organized in life.
Being in 4-H was like the college he never was able to attend. 4-H taught him responsibility and how to become a good and engaged citizen. Bob would also comment that the fun they had in 4-H while learning and doing cannot be matched.
Mr. Jones continues to live by the motto taken from the first and last line of the Jay Cee Creed: We believe that faith in God gives meaning and purpose to human life and that service to humanity is the best work of life.
Categories: Mahaska
