60 years valley FFA
FFA united Clermont, Elgin 60 years ago
By Rich Holm
Contributing Writer
Class sharing at Valley began a long time ago when Elgin and Clermont each had its own school district.
Farming would unite the two schools and their communities when Ross E. James was hired as FFA advisor. There are students such as Bob Swenson, Stub Becker, Bert Henderson, and Joyce Schott who remember that time 60 years ago.
Retired farmer Bob Swenson did not ever go to country school, so his parents enrolled him in kindergarten at Clermont. For 12 years it was the only school he ever knew.
In the fall of 1953 vocational agriculture was introduced at Clermont. The course was so popular that boys from neighboring Elgin wanted to take the course, and they did.
After all, Elgin students were coming to Clermont to take algebra since Elgin had no such teacher.
Clermont’s mascot nickname was the Commanders and in Elgin they were called the Panthers. A few years later, they were the Tigers.
Clermont had no football field so boys, including Bert Henderson, would be bused to Elgin to play.
Then in the winter, because Clermont had a better basketball gymnasium, the Elgin boys traveled to Clermont.
It was the beginning of an enduring friendship, because in 1954 Clermont and Elgin consolidated. Plans were drawn for a new school building, and Valley was chosen as the new school name.
The new school opened in the fall of 1957, and Swenson, Henderson, Becker, and others were members of the first Valley graduating class in the spring of 1958. They were all FFA members.
Laverne, Bob’s older brother by one year, was a member of the last Clermont graduating class.
The brothers were active in FFA and recall when the first FFA jackets were ordered. On the back the name “Elgin” was centered above “Clermont.”
The group had been called the Elgin and Clermont chapter, but on the 25th anniversary of the chapter’s founding, there was an official name change to Valley in 1978.
Bob Swenson recalls the time when country schools began to close. Two of them were moved to Clermont in an area behind the junior high school. One building was converted to a music room and the other was for FFA.
Swenson said, “We needed a shop area, too, so we used an old bus barn that was there. We made do with everything that was made available to us.”
Students wishing to know more about farming could enroll in either FFA or vocational agriculture, two separate classes. They could take both if they wished.
FFA was an elective class in which Robert’s Rules of Order was learned and parliamentary procedure was practiced. Many speeches had to be given.
Voc ag was more “down on the farm” as students studied, soil, swine, dairy, how to weld, take milk samples, and would work on farm projects.
Stub Becker remembers the time he built a loading chute out of native lumber. He and some classmates were unloading it when Bert Henderson ended up going to the doctor.
Stub said, “When the chute hit the ground, it got Bert right in the nose. I thought he was going to lose it because there was so much blood.”
Henderson recalled the incident the best, saying, “I think I gave a pint of blood that day. The blow almost cut the end of my nose off, and Mr. James was real concerned. He rushed me to the doctor, who sewed it back on.”
Henderson added, “Those were the days. We had a lot of fun and a lot of friends were made. FFA was a big part of my life and in the lives of many others, too.”
Even after he graduated from Valley and entered into farming, Henderson held Mr. James in high regard,
He explained, “Ross James went above and beyond the call of duty. On his own he started a young farmer class after we graduated. Every Monday night we would meet at the high school, and he would teach us the latest in farming.
“Mr. James loved to teach farming and loved to play volleyball. After class ended, he would take us into the gym and we all would play volleyball.”
James would extend FFA and voc ag into the community. Bob Swenson recalled when he and other class members ran out of things to do in shop.
Bob said, “Mr. James kept us busy because he knew idle time wasn’t good. Olson & Olson was just up the street, so Mr. James would see Elmer Olson and ask him if he needed any help with John Deere equipment.
“Once he brought a brand-new John Deere manure spreader to our shop. It needed to be put together so the guys in our class did it for him. We never did hear back whether or not we put it together the correct way.”
So the boys from Clermont and Elgin got a lot of hands-on experience as they looked forward to a farming career someday.
Class was actually year-round because Ross James would visit the farm of each student during the summer months to see how their farm projects were going.
Bert Henderson raised pigs as his project, but it was a Hereford bull that got him to the Fayette County Fair.
“It was the only time I showed at the fair,” remembered Bert. “Mr. James encouraged me and helped me get ready. It was an experience I will always remember.”
The Valley FFA Chapter also remembers the first girl to ever enroll in FFA at Clermont and Elgin. She was a freshman named Joyce Bennett, now Joyce Schott. Her mom, Dolores, was widowed when Joyce was 8 years old.
Husband and father Ralph Bennett was a decorated WWII veteran who survived many battles. He was killed on the farm when a tractor pulling a load of wood on a hill rolled over on him in 1949.
Joyce did sewing and cooking at home, and when she entered high school she could take either home economics or vocational agriculture.
She remembered, “I wanted to know more about farming, so I told Mr. James I would like to take his class. The first question he asked me was ‘You aren’t taking my class because of all the boys, are you?’”
She answered. “Of course not!”
Joyce would attend classes for only a semester, but many memories remain from 60 years ago.
She said, “We visited different farms, and one time we went to Bert Henderson’s. He was raising hogs, and we were taken to the woods where Bert gathered bushels of acorns that he would use to help feed his pigs.”
There was a visit to LaVerne Swenson’s farm, as Joyce recalled, “None of us would ever forget that, because Mr. James showed us how LaVerne was able to bank $600 with his farm project. That was a lot of money back then. Farming was on its way back.”
James also visited the Bennett farm when Joyce’s mom baked her teacher a fresh loaf of bread.
Joyce Schott, Bert Henderson, Stub Becker, and Bob Swenson all went to school together, and all have fond memories of when FFA began in Clermont.
They were all saddened last year to learn of the death of their beloved teacher, Mr. James, who left a legacy of learning and a trail of outstanding farmers who went to school at Clermont, Elgin, and then Valley.
Next fall the Valley chapter will share classes with the FFA chapter at North Fayette.
Both chapters have outstanding histories, and now with whole-grade sharing a new history begins.
Together they will practice what Ross E James always preached: “Learning to do, doing to learn, earning to live, and living to serve.” It is the same today as it was 60 years ago.