County community education groups bury time capsules for future members
Jul. 28—Cleveland County 4-H and Oklahoma Home and Community Education members buried two time capsules at the Cleveland County Fairgrounds Tuesday in a collaborative effort to give future members a glimpse of the past when they dig it up in 2122.
Two containers filled with crafts, group pins and letters to future Cleveland County residents are now buried next to the flagpole at the county fairgrounds. Participants hope future residents gain understanding of what life was like a century ago through the items and stories included in them.
Shem Hamil, Vice president of Hopewell OHCE Group, said the motivation behind the project was to preserve parts of history. As a third generation OHCE member, Hamil said the organization means a great deal to her, and this presidential project captures that sentiment.
The original date for the time capsule project was October 2019, but due to personal matters, it was delayed to 2020, only to be put on hold again because of COVID-19.
"We could have gotten together and buried it, but we wanted to have our members there to celebrate it, but it took two more years because of COVID before we could actually get to that point," Hamil said.
Eight county chapters of the home and community education group, along with 4-H, a youth development organization, teamed up to contribute items for the two capsules.
A selection of stitchworks, one of which is a school house with OHCE crocheted into it, are inside the capsule. Future members will also find group specific lapel pins, and of course, letters about OHCE, 4-H and living through a pandemic.
"The letters from members in their positions today to members 100 years from now have some leadership advice and what we did during our time to get membership and provide leadership in our community," Hamil said.
A book of essays about how the pandemic affected members lives details teaching senior citizens how to do Zoom meetings.
Amie Whitehead, 4-H educator and youth development, said each of the county 4-H officers wrote a letter to future leaders to be included in their capsule.
"I know a few of them spoke about some of their citizenship roles that they were playing," Whitehead said. "Some of my kids may be here when we open that — some of my younger ones could be there and so they just wanted to share that these are the things that they found important."
Among the included items is a small piece of quilt scrapping with 4-H and a four leaf clover on it, the organization's symbol. It's paired with a note detailing what being a part of the group in 2022 is like, with hopes 2122 chapters are carrying on the practices.
The clover underscores the purpose of projects in developing an individual's head, heart, hands and health, according to the organization website.
Whitehead said a large part of that is stories that detail to future members what experience-based learning was like.
Hamil said while she has no idea what life will be like for county residents in 2122, she hopes they sense the pride OHCE and 4-H members have in what they do today and that future groups are also proud of their efforts when they see the stories and items.
"I would love to be a fly on the wall when they dig it up," Hamil said. "Who knows? By then, everything might be electronic."
Jeff Elkins covers business, living and community stories for The Transcript. Reach him at jelkins@normantranscript.com or at @JeffElkins12 on Twitter.
