The Smith-Lever Act of 1914 established the Cooperative Agricultural Extension Service. This act allowed universities to extend programs to all 114 counties in the State of Missouri. The extension program began in 1918 and, by 1938, grew to 38,371 members due to the Depression. The program aimed to support homemakers through educational classes that promoted the well-being of their families.
Missouri Family Community Education started home demonstration clubs that grew during the Depression along with programs to teach the newest method of sewing, new recipes, preservation of fruits and vegetables, wall hangings, making hospital gowns, tips on family life, making tiny teddy bears for children who were in the hospital and learning about other countries and their food. Alice remembers that, back in the 1940s, she attended a demonstration with her parents on how to freeze vegetables for the home freezer or the “deep freeze.” (A separate freezer in addition to the one on your refrigerator became popular in that era.) Alice remembers this being very well attended.
The group also went on fun outings to attractions around St. Louis and the Ozarks once a year. Birthday gifts were given secretly, and there were secret pal gift exchanges and potluck dinners at Christmas. Santa would always arrive to hand out gifts to the kids.
In 1972, the name was changed to MEHA - Missouri Extension Homemakers Association, and in 1994, the name was changed to Family & Community Education. The mission has remained the same throughout the decades - to strengthen families through education, leadership, and action.
Alice was part of the Liberty Grove Extension Club, named after a local one-room schoolhouse. There were over 34 clubs in St. Charles County at one time, and now there are only two. In 1937, the Liberty Grove Club had over 20 members, who met at each other’s homes monthly, sharing refreshments, with as many children in attendance as well.
Congratulations to Alice for her incredible commitment to the group for 60 years! What an amazing achievement!
Alice also shared with me the “Club Collect” that opened each meeting. “Keep us, O God, from pettiness, let us be large in thought, deed, in word. Let us be done with fault-finding and leave off self-seeking. May we put away all pretense and meet each other face-to-face-without self-pity and without prejudice. May we never be hasty in judgement and always generous. Let us take time for all things; make us to gram calm, serene, gentle. Teach us to put into action our better impulses, straightforward and unafraid. Grant that we may realize it is the little things that create differences, that in the big things of life we are as one. And may we strive to touch and know the great common human heart of us all, and OH GOD, LET US FORGET NOT TO BE KIND!”
Club collect, written by Mary Stewart.
Shirley Rescot (Left), County Secretary-Treasurer,
presented Alice Freese Molitor (Center) with a
60-year membership certificate presented by
Ruth Mellor (Right) President.
