ALIDA - For 33 years, Eleanor Harrison has dedicated her unwavering commitment to the Alida and Area 4-H Beef Club, and she has left her mark on many members' hearts and minds.
Harrison was inducted into the 4-H Saskatchewan Hall of Fame on March 22 at the annual banquet at the Delta Downtown Hotel in Saskatoon.
The welcome and opening remarks at the ceremony included Saskatchewan 4-H Council president Jason Frey of Alameda. Also speaking were Cannington MLA and Agriculture Minister Daryl Harrison and Mike Kirzinger, representative from the Saskatchewan 4-H Foundation.
Born and raised in Manitoba, Eleanor Harrison had a passion for horses and came to a rodeo in Moosomin, where she was competing with her chuckwagon ponies and barrel racing horse. She was already involved in 4-H at this time.
It was at this event that she met her future husband Elgin, and they fell in love and got married.
They purchased a farm near Alida where they raised cattle, horses and mules. Eleanor Harrison remains on the farm and still loves the country life.
They have two sons, Dale and Daryl.
The couple was often seen in parades with their team of six mules pulling a stagecoach. They had 12 mules altogether, and plowed the fields with them and even used them for a funeral.
Eleanor Harrison was always involved in 4-H, and when she moved to the farm she continued to make it part of her life.
Her sons joined Alida's 4-H program and Eleanor became the general leader of the club.
“Many of the clubs in the area were struggling for membership, and we were down to seven members,” she said.
It was her mission to recruit members and have the club grow, while several of the other clubs had to close down.
Membership slowly began to grow, as youths joined from Redvers, Manor, Alameda and Oxbow. It was at this time that the club was renamed Alida and Area 4-H Beef Club.
On June 8, 1985, they had a beef show, and Harrison remembers this one well. They called it the Great Dust Storm.
“It was crazy windy, and the dust was blowing all around so badly we could barely see, and we had to go into the hall to have supper,” said Harrison.
The beef shows were held at local farms, but in 1986 the Alida show corral was built, through the generous support of the Town of Alida and RM of Reciprocity.
This opened up a great opportunity for the town children to come to the shows and see what this club was all about.
In 1986, her life changed when her son Dale, who was 16 years old at the time, was in a car accident. He remained in a coma for seven months with a brain stem injury and when he came out of the coma, he struggled with speaking and walking. For the next 20 years, Harrison took care of her son at the farm. He now lives in Sherbrooke and enjoys life there.
Eleanor Harrison remained strong in the 4-H club. Membership continued to grow. The club had 49 members and at one time they talked about splitting the club.
“It was a lot of work and at times it was frustrating, but it was so rewarding at the same time,” she said.
Another milestone in Harrison's life was the start of the rodeo in Austin, Man. She had a big part in getting this rodeo going and just last year received a lifetime membership to the rodeo club.
Over the years, the Alida club has had welding workshops and 4-H bonspiels, and they even held provincials in 1986 and 1998.
The beef show has always been a large part of 4-H, and Harrison has attended the Yorkton Steer and Heifer Show for 27 years.
In 2008, while she was in Yorkton, Harrison received the call that her husband had died. They were married for 44 years.
“He had his hat and cowboy boots on and was on his way to do chores, when he was found by Daryl,” said Eleanor. “He died wearing his hat and boots and this would have made him happy.”
Harrison stayed on with 4-H and has been involved for 49 years in total, and she still goes to the 4-H public speaking and regularly helps Key M Auction Services from Wauchope.
She still has four horses, and all the cattle for Daryl and his wife Cheryl are at the home farm. Eleanor Harrison watches to see if there are frozen water bowls or an unexpected calf. She remains active and she is happy to do so.
Last summer she battled cancer and after surgery and 28 treatments, she is on the mend.
“I am just going to enjoy life and make the best of it, because that is all we can do,” Eleanor said. “I feel very honoured to be inducted into the 4-H Saskatchewan Hall of Fame and it was wonderful to have family there to celebrate it with me.”
