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Florine Glaus

Florine Glaus
Florine Glaus

Eminent Homemaker

County: Brule

Florine (John) Glaus, Chamberlain, is at home checking the herd on horseback and serving on statewide advisory boards. As a ranch housewife, she has a cause: agriculture and its people.

Living in the Glaus family home, now with its third generation, Glaus enjoys riding across the rolling prairie and seeing the beauty of nature with her family. She and John have four children: June and Janet of Sioux Falls; Jim of Chamberlain; and Barbara of Columbia, Missouri.

She started the clover Lassies 4-H club after she and John were married 34 years ago. During 30 years as a volunteer 4-H leader, she made countless contributions to the 4-H program statewide. She promoted the 4-H Livestock Industry Trust Fund; she and John set up many sales and attended more around the state; and she continues to serve the board as a director. She has been active as a member of the South Dakota 4-H Leaders’ Association and locally of the Brule County leaders’ organization.

She shares a common bond with her local Town and Country Extension homemaker club members, too. On the county level, she was chairman of the Brule County Extension Homemakers Council in 1980-81. At the state level, Glaus is serving her first term on the Home Economics Advisory Committee at South Dakota State University. It is a lay group which advises the Extension program leader in family living and nutrition and the dean of the College of Home Economics. The committee provides leadership to Extension programming, research, and resident instruction.

Her other interests extend to Cowbelles and Stockgrowers which have a common goal, promotion of beef. The Glaus’ business is selling breeding stock, and all of their crops are raised for the livestock. She has been a local Cowbelle for 15 years; she has also been state beef cook-off and publicity chairman. She has been involved in beef issues nationally for 13 years.

The Glaus family belongs to the United Church of Christ in Chamberlain where Glaus has been a Sunday school teacher, circle chairman, trustee, deacon, church moderator and member of the parsonage building committee and religious education boards.

For all her hard work and dedication, she was named an outstanding State 4-H Alumnus. She holds honorary membership in Future Homemakers of America locally and regionally and was named Honored Homemaker at the Little International at SDSU in 1980. The latter is an honor she shares with her husband who was named Honored Farmer in 1976.