4-H Stories....
Sharon Kay Gibson Tubbs
Sharon Kay Gibson Tubbs, 4-H Home Economist/Educator, relates her 4-H story:
My story starts out for me when I was in the 4th grade at Parsons Elementary School in Decatur County. 4-H was a family tradition that goes back several years before---considering my father was in 4-H and in the livestock judging team and raised the chickens through the Chick Chain, and entered projects in the local fair. My mother did all these things, as well. My father and mother were born in 1921 and 1924 respectively. My four brothers and sister all participated in 4-H and went to 4-H camp, too. My Aunt Marie Gibson Baddour Anglin was also an Extension Agent--so to say this was a family tradition is an understatement!!!
I remember going to 4-H camp that first year in the 4th grade. Camp helped teach me about earning the privilege to go to on a trip. With six kids in a family, my parents couldn't pay for me to go so I had to earn my way. Picking up coke bottles on the side of the road, cleaning house and helping my dad deliver newspapers were some of the ways I earned my way. I thought it was so expensive-- a whole $17.00!!!! and I'm not that old!!! I went to camp every year and eventually was able to attend as a teen and adult leader. It is enlightening now when I go to camp as an Agent and see some of the kids I was a teen leader for, who are now adults. They are carrying on their own tradition. Although I truly loved 4-H when I was in earlier grades, 4-H really came alive for me when Jeanine Cooper England came to be the 4-H Agent when I was in the 9th grade. She helped me with competing and winning honors in Honor Club and All-Stars (back then every one had to wear an Indian outfit-so we made one). I attended 4-H Congress, and then Citizenship Washington Focus!!!! Wow, that was more than a small town girl had ever seen! I still remember so much about that trip, and even working for it---we had a 4-H Chicken Shack at our Decatur County Fair where we could work and earn the price of $180.00 for a week in Washington!
I remember the saddest day of my life was learning that I couldn't be in 4-H after I graduated from high school--well, not in the same way. I asked Mrs. Jeanine how I could be a 4-H Agent like her and she told me about going to a UT college and majoring in Home Economics. Well, that was almost impossible for me, but that set in concrete my life goal and I worked my way through college on my own, and received a degree in Home Economics Education from UTM. I was the first person in my family to receive a B.S. and then later a Master's Degree in my immediate family. I'm not sure where I would be if not for 4-H giving me the confidence and determination to finish my dream, being successful in finishing college and having a professional career. I owe 4-H a lot and that is why I want to give others that same determination and ambition to accomplish their life goals. I try to tell the 4-H'ers in my county now to keep trying and don't think they can't accomplish something just because someone else in their family hasn't done it yet--you be the first!!
4-H offers a way out for some, a new path for others and dreams for still others- it allows you to accomplish more than you ever thought possible. I know because I have been one of the fortunate ones!!! Thanks 4-H!!!!