Cape Gazette
CAPE LIFE
FRIDAY. APRIL 6 - MONDAY, APRIL 9. 2012 77
County to celebrate Extension Homemaker Herita
Sussex County Cooperative scheduled to take place at the
Extension will celebrate an Ex- Carvel Research and Education
tension Homemaker Heritage Center, 16483 County Seat High-
Reunion- 85th anniversary from way, Georgetown. There is no
1 to 4 p.m., Tuesday, April 24, to cost to attend. Former club mem-
honor local Sussex County bers, their families and anyone
women who formed and were who would like to share a story
active in local clubs dedicated to about the long legacy of Exten-
sharing new home economics in- sion Homemaker outreach is
formation and technologies with welcome to attend.
local families. "I am hoping that the adult
Though they were only a small children of past members would
part of the programming Coop- like to share their memories,"
erative Extension supports, the said Anne Camasso, Extension
legacy of these homemaker agent in family and consumer
clubs, as they are often called, sciences at Carrel. "I've talked to
endures in the memory of fami- a few people who remember
lies throughout° the county. The their mother taking them to
lessons they taught, skills they meetings. We would love to have
shared and lives they changed these stories included in the pro-
immeasurably helped Sussex gram."
Counfians' quality of life during In 1917, Cooperative Extension
an era of rapid change, hired its first home demonstra-
The 85th anniversary celebra- tion agent, Gertrude Blodgett,
tion, including refreshments, is who traveled by horse and buggy
to remote locations in Delaware,
providing practical information
about the changing technology
in modern, electrified kitchens;
textile and clothing techniques;
food preservation and other
home economic topic updates.
Ten years later, Cooperative
Extension had placed an agent in
each county, and the Extension
outreach model had expanded to
include community-based clubs.
The clubs and their volunteer
members helped Sussex County
families through the Great De-
pression era and World War II,
and responded to the expansion
of families and technology in the
1950s. While a glimpse into their
archives can be amusing, with
topics such as underwear pat-
terns or charm through good
grooming, the majority of their
focus in outreach clearly marks
-them as being ahead of their
time.
Records show progressive in-
terests in such eas as home and
automobile safety, nutrition and
drug interactions, growing Vic-
tory Gardens, recycling clothing
and household goods, solar heat-
ing, consumer fraud, addressing
marital and domestic abuse, and
active civil defense groups.
Their club names provide a
clue to their wide reach in Sus-
sex County: Angola, Blue Hen,
Broad Creek, County Seat, Ellen-
dale, Harbeson, Indian River,
Laurel, Mt. Pleasant, Nanticoke,
Piney Grove and Reliance, to
name a few. In all, more than 30
clubs and their members were
proactive, continually updating
their education by attending
Reunion
short courses at the University of
Delaware and participating in
several educational field trips.
In addition to direct contact
with local families, Sussex clubs
were active in charity drives and
community service, including
Red Cross flood relief, TV Fund
for Veterans Hospital in Elsmere,
planting community trees and
replacing the contents of a resi-
dential kitchen damaged by fire.
As Extension changed and
modernized, so too, did the na-
ture and name of homemaker
clubs, which in the early 1990s
became known as the Associa:
tion for Family and Community
Education. For more information
and to register, contact
Lewis at 302-856-7303. There is
also a sampling of vintage photos
on the Carvel REC Facebook site,
www.facebook.com/UDCarvel-
REC.
Rosalie Betts Walls named Delaware Mother of the Year
The statewide Delaware Asso-
ciation of American Mothers has
selected Rosalie Betts Walls of
Georgetown as the 2012
Delaware Mother of the Year.
Her principal nominator was
the Georgetown Historical Soci-
ety, which is the sponsor of the
:ILE PHOTO
ROSALIE BETTS WALLS rides in the
Return Day parade. ~
nationally and internationally soldiers and their families.
recognized Sussex County Re- In 1905, her daughter Anna be-
turn Day. Walls was recently re- gan an intense campaign to es-
elected as the Return Day Corn- tablisti a national Mothers Day.
mittee's president, having served In 1914, Congress passed the bill,
in that role for the past 22 years, and President Woodrow Wilson
She also received nominations approved the second Sunday of
from 17 other civic and commu- May as Mothers Day. Since then,
nity organizations which de- American Mothers Inc. is the
scribed her many volunteer ac- parent organization and sponsor
tivities, of Mothers Day and of the Moth-
Walls will be installed as er of the Year, Young Mother of
Mother of the Year at the the Year and Merit Mother, when
Delaware Association of Ameri- selected throughout the United
can Mothers' ceremony by Gov. States.
Jack Markell at his official resi- Participation did not begin in
dence in Dover at the end of Delaware until 1950, when Gov.
April. Elbert Carrel appointed a chair-
The American Mothers' earli- person, Mrs. Joseph Ennis of
est beginnings emerged after the Smyrna: She was assisted by
Civil War as a tribute to mothers, three mothers, one from each of
Anna Reeves Jarvis of Grunty- Delaware's three counties: Mrs.
town, W. Va., sought to bring Jonathan Willis of Milford was
about reconciliation to divided selected as Delaware's first
families. She organized Mothers Mother of the Year. Since then,
Friendship Day with invitations Delaware has been represented
to both Union and Confederate each year at the American Moth-
Itinerant Dance Theater
looks for dancers
Itinerant Dance Theater is
looking for dancers for a Thurs-
day, June 28, show at the Lewes
Public Library. Dancers should
be 18 and over. Body type and age
not am issue: Itinerant Dance
Theater does not do pink tights
or pointe shoes. Those who no
longer dance' or perform and
would like to return, actors or
s'mgers who dance, dancers look-
ing for resume credits and others
are invited. IDT's library shows
are family friendly comedy
dance with singing and acting.
Members will have one rehearsal
per week, 4 to 7 p.m. on Sundays
in the Dover area. Costumes and
warm-up class provided. Contact
Catherine Samardza for informa-
tion at 302-492-0822 or
csamardza@bigfoot.com,
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ers International Convention in
May. This year's AMI Conven-
tion will be held in Washington,
D.C.
The Delaware Association of
American Mothers lists the
names of annual awardees on a
roster that hangs in Legislative
Hall in Dover.
For further information, con-
tact association president Kay
Wood Bailey at 302-653-4801 or
Treasurer Grace Arles at 302-737-
6073. : "
Spring Schedule
Starts Monday, Harch 26
Monday: 7:00AM
Wednesday: 7:15PM
Thursday: 7:I5PM
Friday: 7:00AN
Saturday: I 0:00AM
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