Oldest surviving 4-H'er recalls early projects

By MANDY JOHN | Central Texas Edition

Zeta Gandy

October 10, 2002 -- The 100th anniversary of 4-H in America is being celebrated this week, Oct. 6-12.

Zeta Gandy, though, still remembers when 4-H was just a new organization with a small number of participants. Gandy recently celebrated her 100th birthday in March. She is the oldest person living who has been a 4-H member.

Gandy has lived in Liberty, Texas, all her life. She was born in 1902 in the Liberty church, the youngest of nine children. Her mother died when she was very young, so her father raised her.

She went to the local school where she was first introduced to Edna Trigg, the 4-H teacher. Some of Gandy's fondest memories of 4-H concerned Trigg.

"Miss Trigg was my school teacher. Later on she took over the 4-H in our school. She was the reason I was able to get in the 4-H club when I was only 10. My sister was also in the club and so I got to work with her.

"I was in the tomato canning club. We would put the tomatoes in a washpot and boil off the peels and then we would can them," Gandy said. "Canning was a slow process and we had to do it by hand. It was a lot of hard work. My father liked to call me the 'tomato queen.' Later we learned how to can other fruits and vegetables, like peaches. I still do that today. I think that's why all five of my kids are still here today."

Gandy related that being in 4-H taught her how to "eat right" and how to prepare health meals. "It's a lesson that I was happy to be able to pass on to my family," she added.

Two of Gandy's five children were in 4-H and many of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren are in 4-H clubs today.

4-H club meetings in 1912 were also very different from today's. Gandy said they would meet about once a week at each of the 4-H members' homes. They would then go to different houses in town and put on demonstrations so the people in town could see what was being learned. Their group was one of 11 tomato clubs in Milam County.

Another difference, pointed about by the 100-year-old lady, is the difference in club funding and recognition. "There were no awards when I was in 4-H. There were no funds either. We were given $1 a year for our projects. I grew tomatoes on an eighth of an acre.

"Canning was an all-day process from picking the tomatoes to canning them. At the beginning we used jars, but then we moved on to using cans."

Gandy stayed in 4-H till she got married at the age of 16.

Today, Gandy spends her time painting, working in her garden, making jellies, and quilting. She also still cans tomatoes, but now she does it the "modern" way. "What use to take me all day to do, now only takes a few hours," she said.

Recently, Gandy was in a television commercial for 4-H. The commercial was aired all over Texas for almost two years.