2003 Year in Review

Mary Jane VenHuizen Retires After 33 Years

Mary Jane VenHuizen (center) greets guests at her retirement party August 29, 2003.

Mary Jane VenHuizen watches while granddaughter, Sarah VenHuizen, signs guest book.

“Very dedicated”, is what Mary Jane VenHuizen’s co-workers said about her after 33 years at the Whiteside County Extension office. Mary Jane, as everyone knows her, retired Friday, August 29 The office held an open house for her and over 150 extension personnel, former 4-H leaders, and friends stopped by to wish her a wonderful retirement. Friends from as far away as Waterman and Geneseo Illinois came by. “It was great to see former 4-H leaders.”

Mary Jane said the people are what she liked best about working for extension. “The staff and 4-H leaders I’ve had to work with were great, they are all very dedicated.” She started as an 8-year member of Cottonwood 4-H club then watched as her children were members and now her grandchildren are active in the same club. She realized she had been at extension a long time when she was typing in the new years enrollment and realized these were parents of 4-H members she was entering. “Many of the older clubs have disbanded, others have started and ended, but it’s good to see some of the old clubs are still strong.”

A couple of years ago Mary Jane switched jobs with her co-worker Jan Wiersema. Mary Jane took over the fiscal part of extension and the adult education while Jan assumed the 4-H and youth education Mary Jane had always taken care of. Jan said after working with Mary Jane for 21 years she would really miss her. According to supervisor Sandy Shetler, who has worked with Mary Jane for 13 years, “She is very dedicated to doing her work. She gives her best self to the job. She wouldn’t even take vacation. Everyone likes Mary Jane.”

Mary Jane said the major changes she has seen in Extension is when they took the education centers away from the local units and put them into units in Rockford and the Quad Cities. Also at one time the 4-H show was split into two shows: home economics and livestock. The home economics area was a regional show that moved around the county and the livestock show was only two days. Now they are combined and run four days at the fairgrounds.

If you ask any former 4-H member about softball, they’ll tell you how competitive it was. Mary Jane explained the Illinois Farm Bureau was a sponsor and the best county teams competed on a statewide competition at the Illinois Sports Festival. “Whiteside always did well,” she added. But when the Farm Bureau dropped their sponsorship it became less competitive.

Another change Mary Jane lamented was the demise of “Home Extension”. She was a 20-year member of Morrison Nite and was sad to see it disband. The adult education groups around the county were made of aging members. “It became to hard to find people to take leadership rolls.”

Mary Jane has raised two children while working at Extension. Son, Bob VenHuizen and his wife Nadine, are raising her grandchildren, Kayla and Sarah. She’s hoping to spend more time with them and finally watch Kayla play volleyball. Mary Jane also has a daughter, Sue Gomez, and her husband Gabe. Both her children live in Morrison. She plans to spend time with her husband John, who is also retired, taking “Day Trips”. The staff gave them a stay at Starved Rock State Park. She also wants to visit Illinois lakes and fish for muskies with her husband.

Catching up is also on her priority list. There is 33 years of house cleaning and gardening to catch up on. But she says, “It’s nice to be able to do what I want to do, when I want to.”

by Barb Benson, theCity1.com
September 9, 2003