Article

Each year, each county has the opportunity to recognize an outstanding county member at the Ohio Farm Bureau Annual Meeting in December. The member is selected for the work he or she puts in to make the county Farm Bureau as great as it is. This could be someone who has done great works this past year, or someone who has done great work over a lifetime.

This year, the Member of Distinction selected from Lake County is Carl Broadwater of Madison. Carl grew up in a farming community in western Maryland where he worked on large farms in the area and was a member of Future Farmers of America during his high school years. Carl served his country during World War ll in Europe with the United States Army for three years. When the war ended he had the opportunity to further his education at a university in England, where he attended agricultural classes. Returning to the United States, he moved to Ohio and was hired as the farm manager on an estate in Kirtland Hills, a position that he would hold for over 40 years. In 1951, Carl and his wife, Lorena, purchased a 135 acre farm in Madison Township, where in addition to working full time, he raised crops, beef cattle, pigs and chickens. In the early 1950s, Carl and Lorena attended a county Extension seminar on Farm and Home Management where they became Farm Bureau members.  

Carl and Lorena became involved and served on the Farm Advisory committee for many years. They were very active on the membership committee for many years and held officer positions as well. Carl and Lorena recruited Don and Maryann Rogers, who later became the membership power couple themselves. In 2005 Carl received The Conservation and Environmentally Friendly Farmers Award from the Lake County Farm Bureau. Carl, who just celebrated his 96th birthday, can still be seen mowing with his John Deere tractor on “Dee Lee Farm” on Townline Road in Madison. He and Lorena have been happily married for 72 years.

It’s members like these that make county Farm Bureaus across the state awesome and collectively make the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation great.