Induction of the 2018 members took place during the State 4-H Forum in Spokane on October 19, 2018.
Pierce
Sharon Fisk has supported the Pierce County 4-H Program in many capacities. She has been a 4-H Club Leader/Project Leader for 26 years, and has served as the Pierce County Dog Superintendent and Assistant Superintendent three times. Sharon has also been treasurer of both the Pierce Dog Project and the Pierce County 4-H Council several years.
Sharon has attended Washington State 4-H Dog Committee meetings as a Pierce County Dog Project Representative. She has judged posters and public presentations for numerous years for the Pierce County Fair. She judges Public Presentations at preliminaries and at county fair, organizing Public Presentation night in Gig Harbor for families, including securing space, and arranging for volunteers to help the night of the event.
Sharon has obtained grants to buy equipment necessary for the operation of the County Dog Project and has organized and taught at Super Saturdays. She has assisted with Benching Barn duties at State Fair Dog Department for several days of State Fair for several years, assisting with check-in and monitoring Benching Barn until late hours. She has served at State 4-H Agility Trial for over ten years, and also helped at State Fair Dog Judging Contest and County Dog Judging Contests for several years. She has chaired Qualifying Shows for the County Dog Project, including arranging venues for the event.
Sharon has committed hours to support the youth in her club and county. Several past 4-H members still call her and ask for recommendations or just to chat, even though they have graduated. She has spent countless hours helping her members train their dogs and learn life lessons that can be passed onto others. Not only is her impact felt at the club level, Sharon also has impacted the dog project in Pierce County with revisions to Bylaws, updating manuals, and through her service as treasurer. As treasurer for the County Council, Sharon has impacted more 4-Hers on revising and editing club treasurer books and helping the 4-H office implement new policies and procedures with regard to yearly audits and enrollment.
Outside of 4-H, Sharon is involved in her church, helping to teach in Awanas and Zip programs over the last four years. She also volunteers in the nursery and for special events. For the past seven years, Sharon has gone on mission trips to Chile to help build a school for the Mapuche people in Lautaro, Chile.
Sharon has received numerous awards and recognition over the years, including over twenty years’ service as a project leader from the Dog Project, and an Assistant Superintendent Award from the Pierce County Government Volunteer Brunch.
Clark
Kirk and Peggy Gresham have provided a strong presence and influence in the 4-H program and community at the local, regional and state levels. They are mentors to numerous young people in various aspects of their lives in 4-H projects, and they continue to be a part of their lives as they transition into adulthood.
Kirk grew up in 4-H in Oregon and has been a member for 64 years, 26 of those serving with Peggy as leaders in Clark County. Their club has focused on the llama/alpaca, vet science and fleece/fiber projects, Kirk adding riflery and archery projects three years ago. Over the years, they have shown llamas with their daughter, Monica, and many 4-H members have been introduced to llamas by using one of Kirk and Peggy’s llamas as their 4-H project.
Kirk served on the Clark County Fair board from 1997 to 2017, representing both 4-H and Open Class llamas. He has served on the Finance, By-Laws, Scholarship and Animal Health Committees. Through his work with the Clark County Fair Board, he received his lifetime pass to the Fair in 2006. Peggy was a founding director of the SW Washington Llama Association in 1994, and over the years, Kirk and Peggy have served in various positions on the Association Board. Peggy serves on the Board of the North West Camelid Foundation, which raises funds for medical research for llamas and alpacas at Oregon State University and Washington State University Veterinary Colleges.
Kirk and Peggy have been known to take their llamas and 4-H members to Olympia to lobby for funds for fairs in the State of Washington. For the past 22 years, they and their members have represented the Llama Association, 4-H program and Clark County Fair by marching in the Portland Rose Parade, Macys Day Parade, and the Longview Holiday Parade; they have participated in the Loyalty Day parade on the Long Beach Peninsula the past fifteen years.
Kirk began serving on the Clark County Heritage Farm Advisory Board four years ago, and through his efforts formed the Friends of Heritage Farm Foundation with a 501(c)(3) status, promoting and preserving agriculture. The past year he has worked with YEAH (Youth Efforts Against Hunger) to establish their own 501(c)(3). Kirk has served on the Washington State 4-H Fair Board for fifteen years and has been Superintendent of 4-H llamas at the Washington State 4-H Fair during that time. Peggy has been 4-H Superintendent for fleece Fiber Arts at the Washington State 4-H Fair for twelve years.
For the past eight years, Kirk and Peggy have served as Chaperones and County Coordinators for the Know Your Government program. Kirk and Peggy spent six years working with the Operation Military Kids program in the State of Washington. They have been involved with the Clark County 4-H Scholarship Program for ten years and helped to begin the county’s endowment fund. Peggy served on the Clark County 4-H Leaders Board for twelve years as President and in a mentor role as Past President. Peggy also served on the Washington State 4-H Foundation board for over three years.
Klickitat
Patricia Shamek of Goldendale has been an integral part of Klickitat County 4-H for over thirty years. She was a 4-H member in Bickleton, Washington before she became a 4-H leader. As a 4-H Leader of the Horse-N-Around 4-H Club, Patricia raised her family in the 4-H program. As a leader, she taught the various horse projects, sewing, cooking, livestock projects, computers, gardening, photography, leadership and any other project that a child was interested in and needed a leader for. Over the years, Patricia has been willing to increase her knowledge of 4-H projects so that each child can follow their passion. For example, as her grandchildren entered 4-H, she expanded her skill set of project leadership to include performing arts, self-determined sports and guinea pigs.
Besides providing guidance and leadership to the members and project leaders, Patricia was active in fundraising for scholarships or financially assisting members so that cost was not a barrier to the members participating and reaching for their dreams. Patricia runs the main fundraiser for Leader’s Council, Adult Horse Camp, on an annual basis. At Adult Horse Camp, adults attend various clinics during the day and take time to socialize over a three-day period. In addition to the classes, attendees bid in a silent auction, with all of the funds raised supporting the Klickitat County 4-H Leader’s Council, and scholarships for youth to attend camp.
In addition to her activities as a club leader, Patricia is also very active on the county level. She has been an active member of the Klickitat County Leader’s Council including serving is the President. Patricia currently serves as the President of the Klickitat County Horse Leader’s Council. Besides serving on the county councils, Patricia also organizes multiple county 4-H camps. When not running a Camp, Patricia is active in making sure that all necessary state qualifying events are held so that the members can participate in the activities at the Washington State 4-H Fair. She also encourages members to attend and participate in the State Fair, along with completing the paperwork that results in the selection of the State Fair teams.
Patricia is the mother to four children, stepmother of two and grandmother to eleven grandchildren, the majority having participated in Klickitat County 4-H in various projects. She has assisted her daughter in becoming a State Ambassador, a National Ambassador, a National Conference Delegate and a 4-H leader. Four of her sons, her daughter, a daughter in law, and a granddaughter are current 4-H leaders. Her family is a direct representation of her belief that 4-H is an essential part of raising children who become independent and well-educated adults. Besides her biological family, several 4-H members look to Patricia as a mother, an advisor, a counselor, and a confidante.
Linda J. Williams
The space on this page is not near enough to do credit to Linda J. Williams’s lifelong and ongoing contributions to 4-H, Extension and her community! Linda’s 4-H engagement ranges from the family to international level. Linda’s 4-H journey began in 5th grade, learning to sew on her 4-H leader’s treadle sewing machine. From that beginning, she raised three daughters who were award winning
4-Hers, and five of her six grandchildren have excelled as 4-H members.
Linda has worn so many hats in different roles in rural communities everyone—including Linda herself!—sometimes forgets which one she has on at any given time. Beginning as a 4-H leader for her daughters in the 1970s, Linda’s passion for teaching, learning and bettering her community grew into her professional work. She has served the Klickitat County 4-H Program and WSU Extension in varying roles intermittently since 1996, retiring for the last time (so far!) in 2015.
During her 4-H/Extension career, Linda was involved in the writing and/or implementation of $3.7million in grant-funded programs. Linda is a skilled public speaker and shared her knowledge of and enthusiasm for 4-H via hundreds of presentations. She has presented to county 4-H Super Saturday programs, WA State 4-H Leaders’ Forums, community service organizations, Western Regional 4-H Leaders’ Forums, Master Gardener advanced training, the national Children, Youth and Families at Risk conference, the NAE4-HA conference, and the National Extension Galaxy conference, and 4-H leader training. Many of these presentations have been via invitation. She literally is a “spokesperson” for 4-H.
Linda often went above and beyond her job description. She has co-authored several 4-H/Extension publications. Linda was the backbone of a strong Klickitat County and mid-Columbia 4-H camping program from 1996 to the mid-2000s. A “technology savant,” Linda helped with the WSU-Klickitat County Learning Center’s outreach to the extremely remote and rural town of Roosevelt, WA. The Learning Center obtained county surplus computers for a 4-H program there and taught many of the community’s Spanish-speaking agricultural workers how to use them. This successful program spun off into other ventures such as a community garden, community building series, and out-of-school food for youth.
Recognition for Linda’s outstanding contributions to 4-H and her community include the 2000 WA State 4-H Volunteer Staff Award and the 2006 Goldendale Soroptomists’ Women Helping Women Award. She received WS4-HA and NAE4-HA Distinguished Service Awards in 2006. Despite retirement, Linda continues to network and address important issues in the mid-Columbia gorge area, such as affordable housing, public transportation, broadband access, disaster preparation, and asset development. Thank you, Linda, for what you have done and what you will still accomplish for the citizens of Washington—and beyond!