The following is from Pam Ekovich.
Phyllis Ekovich served as the LaPorte County dairy superintendent for 35 years. Before Phyllis took over, only registered cattle were allowed to be shown. Her very first year as superintendent she opened the show to be all registered and grade purebred cattle, increasing the number from 50 cattle to over 200.
Phyllis also made the decision to restructure the order of the dairy show, making it run much smoother. At the time, dairy showed on two separate days; one day reserved for 4-H and one day for the open show. In recent years, the decision was made to consolidate the dairy show to one day and combine both shows.
Prior to Phyllis' 35 year tenure as superintendent, she started the dairy judging team. One of her daughters was interested in judging, so Phyllis took it upon herself to recruit a few other 4-H kids to participate. The dairy judging team is still active and successful today with her son, Mike, taking over these duties.
Today there is a 4-H dairy committee made up of 15 members, so that almost every family is represented. There are currently 42 4-H dairy members and approximately 180 cattle were shown this past year.
Three generations of Phyllis' family have shown during her 35 years. She has enjoyed serving LaPorte County every single year.
On Tuesday, July 11th, Phyllis was honored with all the Dairy families for her years of service.