2014 Woodbury County - Maggie Locke

To say when it all started, is probably when Christine, the oldest Locke child, joined 4-H in 1983.  Being the involved parent that she was, Maggie became the assistant leader and then the organizational leader of the Woodbury Westsiders 4-H Club.  She was a leader for seven years past her children’s involvement and then stepped down, but continues to volunteer for 4-H.  This unselfishly reveals how valuable and important Maggie thinks the 4-H program is for her children and other young people.

Record books were always a huge priority she tried to instill in the club members so they could measure their individual growth. This was a key indicator as to what the 4-H’er liked and disliked.  Each member could visibly see where their interests were, as those were the projects they continued in and succeeded in throughout 4-H. Many of her former 4-H’ers have gone on to pursue careers in those interests areas.

Maggie always instilled community service and citizenship as projects for all members. She was always finding and suggesting service projects for the members of the club.  Maggie was instrumental in pet therapy at two local nursing homes for over 25 years. The nursing home residents would enjoy goodie bags at different holidays, which the 4-H’ers made and put together at club meetings. The residents also recall enjoyable memories of various critters (which were 4-H projects) and the 4-H’ers themselves.

Another group community/citizenship project was the renovation of the goat barn and rabbit barn at the Woodbury County Fair.  This included getting donations for the fans and building material of lumber and cement for new pens.  Then the 4-Hers would work on the barns. Maggie was a firm believer that 4-H was definitely a family affair and claimed she really got to know a lot of special families through working with the 4-H’er and their families for the betterment of the fair.

Maggie’s husband, Larry has always been there to help her with these 4-H activities. He even got roped into tattooing 4-H rabbits with her.  The two of them organized the pork burgers that were sold the day of the hog show at the county fair for five years with all the proceeds going back to the fair.

These thirty years have flown by.  Even though Maggie was never a 4-H member herself, she has embraced what 4-H has to offer.  Reflecting back, one can see Maggie was always available to help any 4-H’er that needed help and encouragement.  She has seen her 4-H members through the winning and the losing, the good and the bad, she’s been excited for them, disappointed with them, but always accepted them right where they were. She saw her role as a leader to teach each person to grow up and be a responsible, involved, informed, kind, and caring person. 4-H was and will continue always to be a huge part of Maggie's life!