November 13, 2015
A Tribute to Ann Religa
Our Ann
by Debbie Church
I pledge my head to clearer thinking
She thought so much of the 4-H program & all it could offer youth. That was really what she lived for! From the local clubs, visiting each one as often as should could, to doing bread lessons at the schools, working on many regional & district committees, and then the State committees, that’s what she thought about all the time.
And she remembered everyone she met! Often their kids & then their kids! Who they were related to, something they had done together & how they made an impact on her! And she carried that out into the public, into the businesses where she shopped & developed friendships through owners, employees, other shoppers & all the Extension Agents she met. Put your head in the game & make it work! That was her motto & her lifelong ambition.
She helped others keep their head clearer to thinking…and remind them the importance of living life to its fullest! From her trips to Disney (she was just as big of a kid there as anyone!), skiing with youth in Colorado, Junior leader trips, working an auction lunch stand, and then the fair! Holy cow, so much to organize & get DONE to have a fair & make it work. 25+ years of county fairs, what stories she could tell! And what things only she & few knew about that could have gone really wrong. But she made it work, & usually had a good laugh in the end.
And if she wasn’t smiling….steer clear! She was on a mission to fix something as it took a lot to get her upset. But she very seldom stayed that way for long. Before we knew it that smile was back, & she would grab someone to make a run to Walmart, with a stop or 2 in between. But that smile, so contagious, always there for everyone to see.
My heart to greater loyalty
If this lady wasn’t bleeding purple for K-State, she was bleeding 4-H green! Loyalty ran deep in her blood to the program & what it represented & she wore it proudly! She never went without her name tag, she was a 4-H Agent! She talked of living at Clovia house at K-State, of her lifelong friends she made, at the state & national level of the 4-H program, and of the locals that just loved her! LOVED HER! And she LOVED THEM BACK! With all her heart…if your heart was hurting, so did hers. But if you laughed & smiled, you had no better cheerleader there for you than Ann. And if a problem arose, she did her darndest to make it better. She could be heard saying “I know this doesn’t feel good, for all your work to come down to being disqualified for whatever the reason.” And she would usually tell of her own stories of livestock or sewing that had been thrown out of competition for whatever reason. Because she GOT IT! What it felt like to work hard for something, only to have it not work out. But, she also reminded you it was a lesson, to take with you & learn from it. Try again. Don’t give up. Keep trying!
My hands to larger service
Service – hands – it all ties together. And her service wasn’t large…it was HUGE! She put her hands in everything! To help youth become the true person that was hiding inside them. From pushing them gently to try a project talk or even just Pickle Power, to helping them with their record books for STATE awards, pulling kids off the sidelines that needed to be involved & possibly giving them the most fun they would remember in a long time. She helped older youth to mentor the younger ones, for the teenager to grow up to be proud of themselves! She taught so many so many skills, life lessons, that would carry them throughout not only their 4-H life…but their ENTIRE life! And it wasn’t just youth….a WHOLE lot of adults watched her smile thru Chemo, trials that the rest of us would have thrown up our hands & said “I’m Done”. While she was taking her Chemo treatments, she would sit & make earrings for all the nurses & all the patients that wanted them. She would say “Well, I need to do something & everybody needs a little pretty in their life.”
Her family was not only her beloved immediate family, but all the 4-H kids where her kids! She was not only their 2nd Mom to keep them on the straight & narrow, but the shoulder that had time to take them to get a Sonic drink & help them out of a tough day.
Her hands helped bring out the best in so many people that the K-State Snyder Football Stadium could probably be filled with people from across the world that this lady helped! She serviced with pride, with love, with energy & with a smile.
For my club, my community, my country & my world.
From her own growing up on a dairy farm in Eastern Kansas, being a Farmers’ daughter made her so proud! She was the poster child of a 4-Her! And every community where she lived & worked was helped by Ann, by her knowledge & carrying for so many.
Her Country – she talked of her National meetings, of getting to see people only every 1 or 2 times a year, but couldn’t wait to go. And if read her Facebook page…it is overflowing with love & caring, from people SHE touched, let alone all the people that touched her in her lifetime.
And the world – AFRICA! She loved her trip there, shared it with so many, to let them know of the world so far away from Kansas. And proudly talked about helping people in that country. It was not only a dream trip for her, but a chance to service more people.
If a picture could be painted of one person, who WAS the 4-H motto “To make the best better” – it was & IS Ann.