2011 Palo Alto County - Terry Rouse

Posted on August 19, 2011 at 12:56 PM by Global Reach

2011 Palo Alto County The time and effort that Terry Rouse of Curlew, IA has committed to improving and supporting 4-H in Palo Alto County is truly astonishing. While growing up he was a member of the Silver Lake Cruisers 4-H Club and showed dairy cattle. He graduated high school in 1973 and in 1974 he began his run as beef superintendent for the Palo Alto County Fair. At that time he and his father had switched from dairy to beef cattle. He served in this position for 35 years, until his youngest daughter’s last fair in 2009. His children all have memories of going with dad to beef weigh-ins and fair clean-up days. He helped many families and 4-Hers by sharing his beef knowledge, catching a loose calf in the show ring, and just making members have a positive experience at the fair. Different things that changed over the 35 years as beef superintendent included specific 4-H tags, switching from an actual auction to a premium system, carcass contest, improved barns, the “county raised” program, the fence/gates between barns and pavilion, and wood chips in barns. Terry spent countless hours weighing in cattle, putting together beef show programs, working with youth and their beef projects, doing barn assignments, explaining rules, getting volunteers to help with the show, keeping the beef show running smoothly, and organizing the data for the carcass contest. Everyone who worked with him appreciated his great organizational skills.

When his oldest son was old enough to be in 4-H Terry formed a new club known as the Ayrshire Beavers 4-H Club, a club that is still going strong today, since the Silver Lake Cruisers had faded away sometime in the mid 80’s. Terry was a leader for that club for 19 years. Terry shared his love of 4-H with his wife, Pam, and their four children, Benji, Betsy, Brian, and Bridget, who all were very involved 4-Hers, serving as club presidents and members of the County Council. 4-H was a real bonding time for his family and his hard work and dedication provided wonderful life lessons for his children.

Terry was a dedicated member of the Palo Alto County Fair Board from 1985 until 2008, serving as secretary for a number of those years. He was a part of many of the grounds and building improvements that happened in those years.

In 1997 Terry was awarded the County 4-H Alumni Award for his contributions to 4-H and now Palo Alto County is proud and honored to have him as their 2011 inductee to the Iowa 4-H Hall of Fame.