4-H exchange leads to nearly 50 years of friendship
BY SHAWN LOUGHLIN
Last weekend, hundreds of people flocked to Memorial Hall and the Blyth Festival’s Harvest Stage for Bonanza Weekend. Among them were two women who, thanks to a 4-H exchange program, have now been friends for nearly 50 years.
On Aug. 17, 1977, Jean Siertsema (now Siertsema-Bennett) and Becky Garner (now Garner-Rouse) were pictured on the front page of The Blyth Standard, sitting towards the camera, but also slightly back-to-back, featured as participants in a 4-H exchange program. Siertsema-Bennett lived just north of Blyth and welcomed Garner-Rouse from Butler County, Ohio. This came after Siertsema-Bennett had travelled to Ohio just a few months earlier in June.
Speaking with The Citizen last weekend, the two women said they clicked instantly and have remained great friends ever since those fateful weeks in the summer of 1977, visiting annually in most years and celebrating many milestones together. Their parents would even meet and get along, planning their own trips together, independent of the two women.
Garner-Rouse and some friends had come to Blyth to take in some of the Festival’s shows on Bonanza Weekend and, of course, see Siertsema-Bennett.
Siertsema-Bennett had already done the 4-H exchange the previous year, travelling to Pennsylvania, and she would do it again in 1978, travelling to Wisconsin, but it was when Garner-Rouse picked her up in her chocolate brown Chevrolet Monza (a lemon, says Garner-Rouse - indeed it was only made for about five years) that their lives would change forever.
Both were outgoing and shared similar interests and came from similar backgrounds. Garner-Rouse said she thought it was funny when Siertsema-Bennett made herself feel at home when they arrived in Ohio, changing into pajamas and sitting on the floor and started talking with the family upon first arrival (Garner-Rouse says her mother used to joke that Siertsema-Bennett sat down, started talking and never stopped).
Siertsema-Bennett said it was because she felt at home. She immediately felt comfortable with the family and things haven’t changed since.
In The Blyth Standard story, written by Debbie Ranney in August of 1977, the newspaper noted the local 4-H exchange tour, which included stops at the Goderich salt mines, Quality Produce in Exeter, Centralia College, the Goderich courthouse and Dominion Roads in Goderich. Guest speakers were Huron County agricultural representative Don Pullen, Huron County Warden Doug McNeil and Huron County Clerk-Treasurer Bill Hanley.
At the time, Garner-Rouse said she didn’t notice many differences between the two locations, aside from Ohio being much more hilly than Huron County and the Ohio crops being a few weeks ahead of Ontario’s.
In regards to 4-H, Garner-Rouse also noted a more robust participation in Huron County. In Ohio, she said in 1977, 4-H Clubs would be lucky to attract between 12 and 15 members, while, in Huron County, it was commonplace for a club to average 25 members.
In the story, Siertsema-Bennett also detailed her time in Ohio, which consisted of a slideshow presentation at a local 4-H meeting, a trip to the King’s Island amusement park, a picnic and pool party and special trip on a showboat named “Majestic”, which included plays and musical entertainment.
That year, 27 Huron County 4-H members made their way to Butler County, Ohio as part of the exchange, while only six Butler County residents were able to make their way back up to Huron County due to their farming commitments.
Since that memorable summer, the two women have been just about the best of friends, never missing a chance to get together or mark an occasion. For example, both women celebrated the other’s parents’ 50th wedding anniversary. Siertsema-Bennett had an emergency medical situation days before Garner-Rouse’s parents were due to celebrate and she surprised everyone (including her own parents) by making the trip last-minute.
The two have also travelled extensively together, visiting many states in an effort to do something special on milestone anniversaries of the start of their friendship. They went to Arizona for their 35th and Virginia and Washington, D.C. for their 40th. Plans for their 45th anniversary were interrupted due to the COVID-19 pandemic (Siertsema-Bennett was actually in Ohio visiting Garner-Rouse in March of 2020 as the pandemic was gaining steam, but before everything shut down).
Now, their 50th anniversary is right around the corner and, while nothing has been formalized yet, they did talk about it a bit over the weekend with Utah, one of Garner-Rouse’s favourite areas, being floated as a possible destination.
In the years that followed those first trips in 1977, Garner-Rouse forged a career in transportation, still living in Butler County. In fact, 20 years ago, she built a new house on the exact homestead where she grew up. The land, Garner-Rouse says, has been in her family since 1808. Her great-great-great-great-grandfather received the land by way of a land grant from Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the U.S. and one of the Founding Fathers.
Meanwhile, Siertsema-Bennett, the daughter of the late Hebo and Marg, went to nursing school and travelled out west to work, putting roots down, for a time, in Saskatchewan and Alberta before returning to Ontario, eventually making her home in Lucan and working in the London area. Now, she trains personal support workers through the Avon Maitland District School Board.
As a Lucan resident, she could confirm a keen interest in the Donnelly family story. When Garner-Rouse found out the Blyth Festival was producing a trio of plays about the Donnelly family, she told Siertsema-Bennett that she was coming up to see the shows, even if she didn’t want to see them herself.
The women can’t point to anything special that has kept their friendship strong over the years, aside from plenty of shared interests and an openness that they have with one another. They agree that, at this point, they’re all just part of the same family.