Farewell to a co-worker, friend of 4-H
- Laurie Sidle, OSU Extension Wayne Co.
- May 1, 2023
- 689
Our staff said goodbye to a co-worker this week with the usual types of sendoffs — a luncheon and parting gifts — but they were small tokens of appreciation for long hours devoted to a job that impacted the whole community.
Doug Foxx is leaving his role as the Ohio State University Extension 4-H youth development educator of Wayne County for a new position at the university’s Wooster campus. On May 8 Foxx will become the fiscal officer/financial operations specialist senior analyst for OSU Department of Animal Science.
His departure is bittersweet.
“I love 4-H. I still love 4-H,” Foxx said as he reflected on the job that allowed him to work with volunteers, parents, youth, and groups such as the Wayne County Senior Fair Board, Wayne County commissioners, alumni groups and donors.
Through it all, he said, the goal has been to live out the 4-H motto: “To Make the Best Better.”
“That’s what it’s always been about for me,” Foxx said, “to continually improve on how we can make events and activities better.”
His role as a 4-H educator brought him full circle.
“I grew up a city kid,” Foxx said. "Friends let me keep animals on their farm, and that’s how I got introduced to farming and agriculture.”
He was a Wayne County 4-H member and served on the Ohio State Junior Fair Board before earning a bachelor’s degree in agriculture education with the goal of becoming a 4-H educator.
At the time, that position in Wayne County was held by Sherry Nickles, who Foxx mentioned as one of his role models, along with the 4-H educator before her, Bob Troutman.
Meanwhile, Foxx worked for Ohio Farm Bureau on a public policy team to advocate for farm policy for 10 years until Nickles retired in 2013 and he was hired to replace her. He earned a master’s degree in business administration from Bluffton University.
“It’s been a really great 10 years with a lot of fun and adventures along the way,” Foxx said. I feel like I accomplished a lot of goals and ideas I had during that time.”
He’d stockpiled other ideas, he said, “but I know that it’s time for someone with new energy and passion to come to the job.”
Foxx said it’s time for him to focus more on his family, which includes his wife Katie and sons Oliver and Carter, and explore other career interests. “I’ll get to appreciate the fair differently now as a dad and not someone who is in charge of shows and events.”
Among his favorite memories are bus trips taken by the Wayne County Junior Fair Board on which members and extension staff got to visit other county fairs and tour places like The Fair Publishing House in Norwalk, where the group saw where 4-H ribbons and rosettes are made.
Foxx recalled some special “behind-the-scenes moments” such as working with junior camp counselors to develop ideas, then having those ideas come to life during camp.
A memorable time at this past year’s fair was hosting visits by Gov. Mike DeWine and Cathann A. Kress, vice president of agricultural administration and dean of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at the Ohio State University.
Foxx mentioned one of his most challenging moments was gathering with fair officials to decide to evacuate junior fair livestock from the fairgrounds hours after the fair opened based on threats of heavy rains that could flood the fairgrounds.
Foxx called it awe-inspiring how committees and volunteers worked together to make it happen in an orderly fashion.
He said he hopes his legacy is he preserved the cherished 4-H traditions and at the same time brought about changes such as integrating technology throughout different aspects of the program in the way of a mobile 4-H app, online entries and fair displays, and creating consistency across departments and programs “where it makes sense for there to be consistency.”
Foxx said it will be hardest to leave behind the people he’s worked closely with through the 4-H program.
We are sad to see you go, Doug, but wish you the best in your new endeavor.
Laurie Sidle is an OSU Extension family and consumer sciences program assistant and may be called at 330-264-8722 or emailed at sidle.31@osu.edu.