Thueson to retire from Extension after 46 years of service

In May 1972, Kathleen Thueson began her 46-year career as the Executive Secretary for the NDSU Extension Service Eddy County Office. She worked alongside Aloph Gross, Eddy County's Agriculture/Natural Resource Agent, and Carol Sellie, the Family/Consumer Wellness Agent. She has been the mainstay in the office through 10 county agents, a move and various changes in technology. On Monday, Dec. 17, co-workers, friends and community members came to recognize Thueson on her retirement.

Thueson said she applied for the job at the urging of her uncle, who was operating a road grader for the county at the time. After an interview with Gross, she was offered the position. At that time, the Extension office was located in the basement of the courthouse, where a mimeograph machine was used for making copies. Thueson recalled that typing the stencil and keeping enough ink in the cylinder through the copying process were the challenges with that machine. Now, with the ease of technology, documents are produced and copied "with the touch of a button" on a computer.

Thueson said people were the source of her fondest memories and working with others was her favorite part of the job at Extension, in particular the 4-H families, local residents, producers and other Extension staff. She has worked with six Agriculture/Natural Resources Agents: Gross, John Kringler, Nathan Huso, Al Ulmer, Randy Mehlhoff and Tim Becker; and four Family/Consumer Wellness Agents: Sellie, Deb Roel, Carol Braunberger and Donna Anderson, during her tenure.

In the early days, she worked with many more community members on the various programs. In 4-H alone, one of the main programs through Extension, Thueson said there were 17 Eddy County clubs in 1972. She worked with 23 home economics leaders, 18 agriculture leaders and three horse leaders, for a total of 44. Those leaders served 163 young 4-H'ers. In comparison, there are just four clubs now- Tiffany, Trail Riders, Raiders and Rough Riders- in the county. Thueson works with six leaders who serve a total of 31 members. She said even though the numbers are smaller, all the benefits of 4-H have relatively stayed the same. "There are still many projects and life learning skills that can be learned and used in the future through the 4-H experience," Thueson said. Whereas 4-H'ers used to belong to either an agricultural or home economics club, now they can do any project they choose as a member of any club in the county.

Homemakers clubs dotted the county in the 1970s as well. There were 12 clubs active in Eddy County with 150 total adult members then. Now, just one club remains, led by Ardyce Snyder, with six members. The big change is the national program, which is now called Family and Community Education (FCE). Their mission is "strengthening individuals, families and communities through continuing education, developing leadership and community action." FCE began in 1936, and early efforts focused on support for a national school lunch program, development of local public health services, immunization programs for children, implementation of the first bookmobiles, and national safety programs. Snyder was recently elected the national president for FCE, and will serve in that capacity through 2021.

The local office moved from the basement of the courthouse to its current location inside the Garrison Diversion Conservancy District building around 1995, Thueson recalls. Since that time, Extension has continued to provide a range of services to community members. The agency's website, https://www.ag.ndsu.edu/extension, is a wealth of information on topics from natural resources and livestock management to children, family and finance. They host meetings on agriculture and home economics, and the agents are there to answer questions posed by rural residents. Their mission is Extending Knowledge, Changing Lives.

Congratulations to Kathleen on her successful 46-year career! For more information about NDSU Extension, call (701) 947-2454, email [email protected] or [email protected], or stop in the office.