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Sylvia Lehmkuhl is sharp as a tack.

At 98, she is the matriarch emeritus of Shelby County Farm Bureau’s promotion and education committee, which evolved from the women’s committee years ago.

“I was the chair of the third grade safety program,” she recalled while seated at a table with lifelong friends and cut red roses that were a gift for the gathering. “The kids were judged in four safety categories. They got to display at the fair. It was a good program.”

“Kids taught their dads how to be safe, how to do things on the farm safer,” Joyce Peters added. “They took what they learned back to the farm.”

Safety committee work was just one of several contributions Lehmkuhl and Peters gathered to reminisce about last fall with friends Mary Lane Steenrod and Ann Joslin. Their decades of commitment to ag literacy and what it means to be part of an organization like their county Farm Bureau were top of mind for the group.

“Farm Bureau is the organization that keeps our voice heard in the government,” said Peters, who once served as the Shelby County Farm Bureau president. “One farmer alone can’t make a difference by himself, but working together can make a difference.”

“Working together” has made a difference in the farm life of the county these women call home. Jill Smith, senior organization director and member development specialist for Ohio Farm Bureau, serves members in Auglaize, Logan, Mercer and Shelby counties. She affectionately calls these ladies the “Golden Girls.”

“For years, I would watch them pull their calendars out of their purses; their Hallmark calendars were busier in retirement than they were when they were working,” she said.

Lehmkuhl said she and her friends are cut from the same cloth. Raised in farming families with a strong tradition of volunteerism and community service, the now-retired group can’t seem to stop giving. Or rather, they don’t want to stop. Giving it back, or paying it forward, is in their blood.

“It’s part of your makeup, doing something for someone else,” Lehmkuhl said. It comes as little surprise that all of them were teachers at some point in their lives.

Joslin’s ancestry also makes that case crystal clear. William and Pearl Joslin were Ann’s grandparents-in-law and were part of the first county Farm Bureau community council started by Lewis Warbington in Shelby County. Their first project was helping with European food relief after World War II, an effort now-deceased Golden Girl Barb Ditmar worked on. She, Maxine Allen, and Wilma Baumer were all remembered by their peers.

The Golden Girls have volunteered at countless events over many years, whether helping teach neighbors and students about where their food comes from or extolling the virtues of farm life.

“We wanted to support the Farm Bureau because it does good things,” Steenrod said, adding with a laugh, “but legislation doesn’t have anything to do with making cookies.”

But, these ladies have made thousands of cookies, supporting events hosted by Farm Bureau, or 4-H, supporting any and all ag education efforts in the county and beyond. They were there, and sometimes still are, as the backbone of the organization – making cookies and making plans to keep “community” in the farming.

Volunteerism has fallen off for many organizations in recent years and Farm Bureau is no exception. But, raising a family on a farm and giving back to a community is still a lifestyle many strive to achieve.

“Farm family children grow up with a work ethic other children do not have,” Steenrod said. “It impacts their whole life.”

Joslin agreed.

“A farm is the best place to raise a family.”

As time marches on, times change, the Golden Girls acknowledged. These days time is finite, everyone is busy and technology has changed everything. It can be challenging to find volunteers in the chaos of modern life.

Yet, change is inevitable, and necessary, Leghmkuhl noted, relating everything back to an old adage she learned about farming.

“If you farm today like you did yesterday, you will be out of business tomorrow,” she said.

The same can be said of any organization, even Farm Bureau, which continues to evolve with the next generation of volunteers.