The National Land and Range Judging Contest is proud to recognize Frank E. Evans as the 2006 Honoree.  For several years in the 1960s Frank served as a group leader for the National Land & Range Judging Contest.  Then in 1970 he was asked to take over recruiting and coordinating all group leaders for the contest and has served in that role for the past 36 years.

Frank was raised on a farm near Holdenville.  He is a graduate of Oklahoma A&M (now OSU) and a veteran of World War II and former POW.

He started his career with the USDA Farmers Home Administration (now Farm Service Agency) in 1950 in the Hughes County FHA office at Holdenville.  He has worked in Seminole, Pittsburg, Lincoln, Choctaw and Pushmataha Counties.  He moved to the Oklahoma State Office of the Farmers Home Administration in Stillwater in 1967 and became Farmer Loan Program Chief in 1970.  He retired in 1985 from that agency with 35 years of service.
 2006
   Frank E. Evans
 

After retirement from the Farmers Home Administration, he was elected to the board of directors Oklahoma Rural Rehabilitation Corporation (ORRC), head-quartered in Stillwater, in 1985.  Later he was elected president of ORRC, a position he still holds.  The ORRC has grown substantially under his leadership and is recognized as a program that is very active in furnishing rural credit, helping students with scholarships, and carrying on a rural community grant program in participation with FFA chapters, 4H groups and local community groups.

Frank and his wife Jewell have been married for 56 years and have two grown sons, Rick and Ron.

Congratulations to Frank Evans, the 2006 National Land & Range Judging Contest Honoree.

copied from the banquet booklet provided by the Oklahoma Association of Conservation Districts

 

 

Rose Bonjour
2007

Congratulations to Rose Bonjour, the 2007 National Land & Range Judging Contest Honoree.  Rose's first introduction to land judging was back in the late 197's when she judged land for the Waterloo, Illinois FFA chapter in high school.  She never made it to the national contest until moving to Oklahoma in 1985.    Over 20 years ago she was asked to computerize the FFA land judging tabulation for the first time.  That first year, there was a frog strangler of a rain storm and tabulation was flooded out of the basement of the church into the sanctuary.  There was only one electrical outlet and it was ungrounded.

Lots of prayers were said in that sanctuary that day.  Rose has helped facilitate many changes in the tabulation since that first year including times Scraton forms were used and she bought an iron to press the sheets before sending them through the card reader. 

Every year the tabulation comes down to the wire; grading cards, entering data, checking winners and printing the results judged in time for the banquet.  With a BS and MS in Agricultural Education from Southern Illinois University, Rose is certified to teach Ag Ed in Oklahoma and Illinois. 

Since moving to Oklahoma she has worked at the Oklahoma Career and Tech Ed, starting as the micro computer specialist and now serving as the central district Ag Ed Program Specialist.  She enjoys challenges always evaluating situations and making progress more efficient. 

Over the years, Rose has been awarded the Honorary State and American FFA degrees, the Oklahoma State University Collegiate Excellence in Education Award, Quality Career Tech Team Award, Quality Oklahoma Team Award and Career Tech Employee of the Quarter.  She loves working with Ag teachers and FFA students in Oklahoma.  One of her favorite work-related activities is serving as the swine superintendent at the Oklahoma Youth Expo. 

Rose is married to Edmond Bonjour who is a senior researcher in entomology at OSU.  They have two wonderful children, Sophia, 14 and Ean, 11.  Rose is active in her church and recently served as chair of the building committee for a $4.3 million family life facility.

She enjoys spending quality family time, completing home improvements projects, working their family craft business and bicycling.  Having crossed the US on a bicycle once before she has started making her retirement plans to do it again even though retirement is many years away.  Congratulations to Rose Bonjour!