S.D. Farmers Union Recognizes Cheryl Dethlefsen, Aurora County With Minnie Lovinger Award

One-year-old grandson Carter Schnabel climbs onto Cheryl Dethlefsen’s lap just minutes after the Aurora County Farmers Union Education Director received the 2018 Minnie Lovinger Award for her years of dedicated service to the grassroots organization’s educational programming.

“I enjoy helping kids learn things about animals, farming and cooperatives,” explains Dethlefsen on why she dedicates time each year to helping organize county camps. “A lot of the kids are town kids and don’t understand everything about farming life. I want them to know a cow is more than meat and what the byproducts are. I don’t want our kids growing up thinking meat comes from a grocery store.”

Growing up on a farm near Woonsocket, Dethlefsen’s parents were active Farmers Union members. Her mom, Pat Larson Carsrud, has served as an Education Director for 35 years.”I have been involved in Farmers Union camps since I was five or six. 4-H and Farmers Union were the two main things we were involved in,” Dethlefsen says. “All four of my kids have received their Torchbearer Award, and made lifelong friends through Farmers Union Camps.”

She adds that her four children, Jared Hettinger, Gina Schnabel, Jackie Lindeman and Abby Dethlefsen, all gained confidence and developed public speaking skills by attending camps.

More about Minnie Lovinger Award
Established in 2004, the South Dakota Farmers Union Foundation instituted the Minnie Lovinger Award in recognition of the founder of all Farmers Union education programs.

Minnie Lovinger passed away 70 years ago, but not before she laid the foundation for all subsequent Farmers Union education efforts. As historian Lyn Oyos wrote in his history of South Dakota Farmers Union, Minnie Lovinger “snatched the thorny chance and broke the trail that others followed. Her soul has never left them in their sowing and reaping.”

This award is given to individuals who have made great contributions to the success and the longevity of the South Dakota Farmers Union youth program. 

SDFU Education Director Rachel Haigh-Blume presents Cheryl Dethlefsen, Aurora County Farmers Union Education Director, with the 2018 Minnie Lovinger Award for her years of dedicated service to the grassroots organization’s educational programming.