4-H honors 5 local volunteers

A record 65 volunteers were inducted into the Illinois 4-H Hall of Fame during the Illinois State Fair — including Lorraine Wildman, 54-year leader of the Bonfield Happy Helpers 4-H Club and the longest-serving leader in Kankakee County.

Other area inductees were Sharlene Finegan, of Iroquois County; Rodger Bennett, of Ford County; Marge Vaughn, of Livingston County; Pam Brockman, of Grundy County; and Linda Scharnhorst, of Will County.

"These long-time volunteers fully embody what 4-H strives to instill in youth," said Angie Barnard, director of the Illinois 4-H Foundation. "They are caring, dedicated, generous leaders."

Mrs. Wildman, of Bonfield, said she likes the character-building ways of the 4-H. "It's good to see the children progress in their own ways after they're out of 4-H," she said.

She still works the 4-H Foodstand at the Kankakee County Fair, where she also is a volunteer in the antiques department in the Creative Arts Building.

The Wildman family has served more than 100 years as Happy Helpers leaders — son Ronald Wildman, of Bonfield, is in his 29th year and her daughter, Rita Overacker, of Kankakee, served for more than a quarter century.

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