In November 2012, South Dakota Farm Bureau established the "Anne Hunter Volunteer Award" to honor the memory of long-time Farm Bureau member and dedicated volunteer Anne Marie Hunter. We are now seeking nominees for a Farm Bureau member to receive this award at the November 2014 annual meeting.
Please take a moment to read Anne's story below. Do you know a South Dakota Farm Bureau member who has dedicated themselves to the cause as Anne did? Please consider nominating that person for the SDFB Anne Hunter Volunteer Award. Nomination forms must be returned by October 1, 2014.
Last year's recipients -- the first ever -- of the Anne Hunter Volunteer Award were:
Laurene Thoreson, Clark County
Arlene Wessel, Beadle County
Shirley Printz, Pennington County
Anne's Story:
Anne Hunter was a graduate of the University of South Dakota, a lifelong educator who taught in Tyndall, Thomas, rural Bryant, and Hazel, South Dakota. Anne and her husband Herbert Hunter Sr. farmed the majority of their married life in Oxford Township in Hamlin County, near the town of Thomas. They were the parents of one son and four daughters, including Judy Schumacher, the current SDFB Women's Leadership Team representative for District 3.
Anne is described as a true champion of Farm Bureau, someone who worked tirelessly as a volunteer to advance the organization and the farm and ranch families that it represents. Anne volunteered as the Women's Coordinator in 1984-5 and was the SDFB Women's Chairman and served on the SDFB Board of Directors 1986-1989. Anne's children remember her as "the real deal," a lady who lived with gusto and never hesitated to use her voice where it was needed. She was honest and reliable. She held to her moral and and spiritual values and expected the same of those around her. If it was worth doing, Anne believed it was worth doing well -- and with humor.