Posted on August 23, 2021 at 10:41 AM by Emily Saveraid
Dennis and Marilyn Jipsen are the 2021 Cass County Hall of Fame inductees.
Marilyn grew up as a 4-H member and participated in the West Pottawattamie County Fair. She showed cattle and took various baking and sewing projects. Some of her fond memories include participating in the 4-H Foreign Exchange Program with 4-H members from Canada. She spent a week with a host family in Saskatchewan and to this day is still in contact with the family. Marilyn’s family also hosted 4-H exchange members from Colorado and New Mexico. Marilyn also participated in a citizenship trip to Washington D.C.
Dennis is a lifelong member of Cass County and has spent a great deal of his life participating in the 4-H program in various capacities. In his younger years as a 4-H member, he enjoyed showing cattle. Some of his fondest memories were of the parade of projects. This took place in June before the fair and the kids went around to all the 4-H’ers houses to see the variety of projects.
Dennis and Marilyn have three children: Dawn, Kevin, and Kim; all of which were members of the Cass Coed Clan 4-H group. During their kids’ 4-H years, Marilyn spent time as a 4-H project leader and ribbons superintendent during the county fair. At this time, Dennis started his 35+ years on the Swine Committee and Grounds Committee while also helping his kids with their swine and crop projects. He always spent Sunday mornings of fair cooking breakfast in the food stand. Through the years, while on the Grounds Committee, he helped with the building of a new community building and 4-H food stand.
They have nine grandchildren, all of which participated in 4-H because of the great examples they set. Their children also went on to be 4-H leaders and fair superintendents. Marilyn spent time with each grandchild helping to teach them new skills for many various static exhibits.
Cass County is proud to recognize Dennis and Marilyn for their years of dedication to “Making the Best Better.”
