Longtime 4-H leader sees value in youth program

Thirty-four years ago, Linda Stewart wanted to get involved with the Swan River Buttons & Bows 4-H Club, and as luck would have it she was in the right place at the right time.

“I said I was interested in helping, and the leaders at that time said, ‘We’re moving,’ and handed me the stuff,” Stewart recalled.

She and another leader took over the reins of the Swan River club and Stewart has been going strong ever since.

Stewart knew about the many benefits and opportunities 4-H offered when she wanted to get her three children involved in the youth program. She had been a 4-H member in the Bigfork area where she was raised. Sewing and cooking were her projects of choice.

“It’s such a good program,” she said.

As the superintendent for the 4-H home economics and general projects for the past 14 years or so, Stewart is a fixture at the Northwest Montana Fair. Today she and assistant superintendent Marcia Burns will oversee the entry process as 4-H members bring in their finest projects for judging.

Stewart helps find judges for the various project classifications and provides orientation for the volunteers. In a typical year there are more than 800 home economics and general project entries.

Visitors to the Expo Building where the 4-H exhibits are set up will see another generation of Stewart’s family throughout the coming week. Her mother, Sherry Caverly, 84, helps out daily at the fair, watching over the exhibits and visiting with the crowd. Caverly also teaches sewing to Swan River 4-H members. She is one of many volunteers at the Expo Building during the fair.

“We get volunteers from different 4-H groups to watch the entries,” Stewart said. “It’s a nice gathering place, and it’s nice to be able to promote 4-H and answer questions about projects.”

Like many 4-H leaders, Stewart sets up a camper at the fairgrounds and stays for the entire fair week.

“I love the fair,” she said. “I love to see what all my 4-H kids have entered.”

Stewart’s husband, Bill, is also involved with 4-H. He serves on the Loon Lake 4-H Camp board of directors and provides leadership for club members in the leathercraft project.

The Stewarts’ three children were raised with 4-H as part of their lives. Andrew, 42, and Melissa, 37, live in the Flathead Valley and have children of their own in 4-H. The couple’s oldest son, Michael, 44, lives out of the area.

For more than 20 years Stewart has been involved in the States’ 4-H International Exchange Programs, a global citizenship and cultural immersion experience for 4-H aged youth. When Melissa was 14, the Stewart family hosted a girl from Japan, and three years later Melissa stayed with the same girl in Japan.

“That year I was the chaperone for three states,” Stewart said. “Montana had three [exchange 4-H members], Wyoming had one and Idaho had two. We all met in San Francisco, and we went to Japan,” where the youngsters then stayed with host families.

Stewart has been involved with the 4-H interstate exchange program and other non-4-H exchange programs through the years, hosting youth and adult chaperones.

“It’s so much fun,” she said. “I hope to continue doing it.”

The exchange programs have provided her the opportunity to travel; she was in Argentina two years ago.

A fundraising auction for the 4-H Interstate Exchange will be held during the livestock market sale on Saturday. 4-H members bring auction items ranging from gift baskets to quilts to raise money. This year Flathead County 4-H hosted youths from Ohio; next summer Flathead 4-Hers will go to Ohio.

Amid all of her 4-H activities, Stewart found time to be the cook at Swan River School for 28 years. She retired two years ago. She has taught religious education and once played the organ at St. John Paul II Catholic Church. This year she will serve as secretary for the church’s Council of Catholic Women.

She and her husband, a retired Forest Service law enforcement officer, enjoy life on a small farm near Swan River, where they raise Irish Dexter cattle.

Stewart also is involved with the Bigfork Piecemakers Quilt Guild.

4-H is never far from her mind, though.

“I have to stay with it until the grandkids get through,” she said with a smile. She has nine grandchildren, five of whom are involved with 4-H.

Stewart loves weekly visits from her grandchildren because it’s an opportunity to pass on her sewing and cooking skills.

“It’s amazing what the kids can do,” she said about not only her grandchildren but also 4-H members in general. “I see the benefits. I can see the skills they’ve learned.”

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by email at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.