Family's 4-H club has lasted nearly 70 years

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By MICAH MERTES / Lincoln Journal Star

Don and Noreen Crawford sometimes tell their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren how things used to be at the Lancaster County Fair.

You know, back in the day.

You used to be able to bring your own food to the fair, they tell them. It used to be more about livestock and family picnics than demo derbies and pig races.

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Don and Noreen Crawford laugh as they walk at the Lancaster County Fair on Wednesday. (Micah Mertes)

It used to be a lot smaller.

“There wasn’t too many outside people,” Don said.

“It was pretty much strictly a 4-H fair at the time,” Noreen added.

The Crawfords, both 81, have seen a lot come and go, but one thing’s remained fairly constant: the 4-H club their family started almost 70 years ago.

In 1940, Don and his brother Doyle Crawford founded the Happy-Go-Lucky 4-H club. Don said the club has attended the Lancaster County Fair every year since.

In 1940, the group had only five members and dealt exclusively in beef.

But now, it’s about more than cows. The club is on its fourth generation of kids and includes 52 members from 15 families. They participate in hundreds of activities, only some of them concerning livestock.

All the members live in Lancaster County.

“It’s been interesting to watch the different generations come though and how things change,” said Barbara Cochrane, 66.

Cochrane joined the Happy-Go-Lucky Club when she was 9. Her kids were also members, and now her grandkids are.

She’s encouraging her oldest grandson, who’s getting married soon, to start having kids. She wants her family to continue its role in 4-H.

But it’s hard, she said, to get the kids involved anymore.

“There’s a strong interest there,” Cochrane said, “but there’s also band camp and ballgames and soccer games and school.

“When I was in 4-H, the only outing we had the whole summer was going to the county fair and the 4-H meetings. So we had tunnel vision toward that.”

But despite the distractions, a 4-H club is something worth fighting for, said Bev Pearson, 35, a granddaughter of Don and Noreen Crawford and a third-generation Happy-Go-Lucky member.

“It’s a family thing,” she said. “You grow up with 4-H, and you have memories with all these great people. And when your kids get older, you want to start that over with them and instill the values that you’ve learned from 4-H.”

Though her grandparents and great-grandparents have their doubts, Bev’s daughter Brooke Pearson, 15, said the Happy-Go-Lucky club is going to continue for many generations to come.

“There’s enough interest with us and a bunch of different families,” she said. “With everybody as motivated as they are, I think this club will keep going on for much longer.”

So in 70 years, will Brooke be in Don’s shoes, telling her great-grandchildren how things used to be back in the day?

“Yeah,” she laughed, “most definitely.”

Reach Micah Mertes at 473-7395 and mmertes@journalstar.com.