Since I was the editor’s kid, it seemed in clubs and organizations, the first job I always had was Reporter. I might rather have been asked to be President or Treasurer and sometimes those things came along, but Reporter was always first. After all, this seemed to be efficient, right?

4-H Reporter Training

But I remember one time when my father, especially, was sorry I had that job. He had been invited to address the county 4-H Club reporters, and there were a whole slew of us from many rural clubs throughout the county. We were all crowded into a room in the county courthouse awaiting words of wisdom from my dad, and I was bursting with pride at that!

So What’s 4-H?

For those who don’t know, local 4-H clubs are run from the county Agricultural Extension Office for youngsters age 8 to 18. 4-H stands for Head, Heart, Health, Hands. We had a “town” 4-H, as well as those scattered in areas throughout the county. In the city club we learned cooking, sewing, home projects. We also always enjoyed a summer talent competition pitting our club against those around the county. The members in the country often had crop and animal projects as well.

We would submit our projects to a county 4-H fair, held at the high school. Those winning first place would go on to compete at the Missouri State Fair.

So Dad Was Explaining

Dad took his role seriously that particular night and explained that 4-H Club reporters should get their news out to the newspapers in the county (there were four at the time). He also mentioned that a local woman named Ellen Tolen provided a daily radio newscast of local happenings. She did this every morning at 7:30 a.m., phoning in her news for broadcast by a radio station in Chillicothe about 30 miles away.

I Rudely Interrupted

So I interrupted Dad’s instruction to blurt out, “Oh, Dad, you know you hate Ellen Tolen. You know you do.”

Red faced, my dad tried to explain that he absolutely did not “hate” Mrs. Tolen. He did explain that her daily newscasts provided competition for his newspaper. He also explained that my mother would have Mrs. Tolen’s broadcast playing in the kitchen in the morning, while he was getting ready for work. Often she would pick up news of deaths or other tidbits Dad could follow up on when he got to the office.

Room for All

“There’s room for all of us,” Dad told the group still trying to recover his poise. I stayed quiet because I knew I already had shot off my mouth and would be in lots of trouble after the meeting. The other reporters asked good questions about how to prepare their news and submit it. NO ONE asked how to get information to Mrs. Tolen!

Trouble at Home

Dad told me I had embarrassed him and he really was disappointed in me. But after he told Mom, I was in more trouble and got quite a tongue lashing.