Vernon County's University Extension

Friday, September 23, 2016

EDITOR'S NOTE: This column originally appeared in the July 16, 1999 edition of The Daily Mail.

In 1923, Vernon County joined the list of counties in Missouri taking advantage of the Smith-Lever Act by starting the University Extension Service with James Huster as our very first County Agent. At that time the Extension Service was designed to bring information and advice to farm families. The first agents were assigned in 1914 in central Missouri counties with Vernon County following about midway in the roster of state counties using the new service.

After the first seven or eight years there were at least two agents assigned to the county. Some of the agents that have been assigned to this county included J. Ed Rutter, V.L. Gregg, L.H. Beaty, L.W. Doran, Arthur Ausherman, John Burkeholder, Wendel Pettibon, Ira Crawford, James McCall, Jay Treat, Ray Culver, Lester Thornton, Richard Prewitt, James Schulze, Leonard Ernsbarger, Ken Morris, George Graham, Don Utlaut, Warren Hargus, Tom Wojcik, and the present agents, Wayne Prewitt, Pat Miller, Carol Parmenter and Katie Evans. There were also Home Demonstration Agents who worked primarily with the women through the Women's Extension Clubs and individually. The name was later changed to Home Agents, and now this work is supplied by different specialists such as Kris Jenkins, Saralee Jamison, Carolyn Moody and Marsha Alexander who serve this area but who are headquartered in other county seats in the area.

Some of the Home Agents who were headquartered at Nevada were Idellah Holley, Doris (Foley) Storck, and Mary Lee (Schoenhals) Kinnison.

Through the years, the purpose of the Extension Service has expanded as shown by adding the word Outreach to the title. The purpose now states, "Through University Outreach and Extension, citizens engage in learner-based educational programs designed to meet clearly defined needs. To meet these priorities, University Outreach and Extension brings together knowledge, expertise and resources from the four University of Missouri campuses, Lincoln University and other organizations.

University Outreach and Extension is moving forward with the full endorsement of the University of Missouri Board of Curators, which unanimously affirms University Outreach and Extension's system and statewide mission to provide educational programs that address high priority issues. Funding for the Vernon County office and personnel comes from the University of Missouri and the USDA with the County Commission funding secretarial and operating costs. In addition, the local United Way gives a grant for general office operations. Statewide there are approximately 300 staff persons serving, and by adding those who are in the Universities as part of the program, there are 1,200 people involved in providing this program.

An unusual aspect of the Vernon County office is that there have only been three secretaries for the past 43 years: Hazel Johnson with 20 years service, Barbara Bobbett with 12, and the present secretary, Sharon Koopman who has been there 11 years. All three of these women are still living in the area.

Four of the former agents also live in the area. Leonard Ernsbarger, who served from 1961 to 1989, says one of his greatest joys in the job was working with the volunteer leaders. He also felt privileged to watch the growth of young people as they became adults and had successes in life. As the other four retired agents stated, he enjoyed the working relationships with the other staff people.

George Graham, who came in 1964 and retired in 1986, said he really enjoyed working with the farm people. He also really appreciated the people on the Extension Council. He felt he had one of the best Councils to work with. As a sidelight he proudly told that Hazel Johnson, who was a secretary during his term, was tested at being able to type 90 words a minute!

Warren Hargus came to Vernon County in 1970 and retired in 1990. He has good feelings about some of the accomplishments during these years: the rural fire departments, ambulance service, farmer's market, Nut Grower's Association which is now state-wide, work with VISTA workers and preliminary services for some of the smaller towns in the county, such as the Richards Community Center, were all projects he worked on. However, he said the very best thing was the people he got to know and was privileged to work with.

Lester Thornton came to Vernon County in 1956 and left Extension work in 1962 to become a Methodist minister, but has returned to this county in retirement. He felt that his personal work with families in the Balanced Farming Program was a special opportunity and he was amazed at the progress some of the families made in their long-range goals in a short period of time. Since he thought the families in the program were among the better farmers in the county, he felt fortunate to have known them on a personal basis. He also enjoyed the association with other top-notch agents throughout the state.

Each of these four residents had served in other counties before coming to Vernon County, but has chosen to retire here.

As the University Outreach and Extension Service continues to expand its scope into every area of life in every setting, we can be proud of the growth that has occurred in our county through the services of the men and women who worked out of the headquarters on the first floor of the county courthouse for over 76 years.

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