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LASTING CONTRIBUTIONS<br />
“Her heart has<br />
always been about<br />
helping. Her passion<br />
to support youth,<br />
especially through<br />
4-H, shined.”<br />
— AL TUBBS<br />
Bank Board of Directors for 26<br />
years, taking over the seat her<br />
husband held.<br />
As a 4-H member, she<br />
learned the importance of<br />
animal care and how to bake<br />
homemade bread, 4-H officials<br />
recalled in 2007, when Wanda<br />
was inducted into the Iowa 4-H<br />
Hall of Fame. After her three<br />
children became old enough to<br />
join the organization, Wanda<br />
became a leader for the<br />
Andrew Future Farmerettes<br />
— at a time when many 4-H<br />
groups were separated based<br />
on gender.<br />
She also led the Andrew<br />
Achievers 4-H Club and was a<br />
member of the Jackson County<br />
Endowment Committee. She<br />
served as a member of the 4-H<br />
Girls Committee, which later<br />
became the 4-H Youth Committee,<br />
coordinated 4-H indoor<br />
exhibits, and served on the<br />
committee to build Boyer Hall<br />
on the Jackson County Fairgrounds.<br />
She also judged many<br />
4-H shows in other counties.<br />
The envelope<br />
She asserted her role as a<br />
businesswoman, the co-owner<br />
of both Cornelius Seed Corn<br />
Co. and the Cornelius Land and<br />
Cattle farming operation. Jerry<br />
purchased his grandfather Charlie’s<br />
company shares, becoming<br />
the third generation to join the<br />
family business in 1956. Wanda<br />
became an important part of the<br />
company’s growth.<br />
She was willing to state what<br />
was on her mind, according<br />
to Jackson County Supervisor<br />
Mike Steines.<br />
“Wanda always had a smile<br />
and was very supportive of<br />
the community,” Steines said,<br />
noting that he and wife Jane<br />
enjoyed running into Wanda<br />
just about everywhere. “If she<br />
had something on her mind she<br />
was to the point, but she did it<br />
with a lot of class.”<br />
Wanda was inducted as a<br />
Master Farm Homemaker in<br />
1982 and was a past president.<br />
Over the years, hundreds of<br />
area youths underwent a Midwest<br />
rite of passage by detasseling<br />
corn for the rural Andrew<br />
seed corn company, and Wanda<br />
ensured the workers had what<br />
they needed while serving as<br />
their worksite “mom,” her children<br />
wrote in her obituary.<br />
Longtime Jackson County<br />
journalist Lowell Carlson covered<br />
many events in which Cornelius<br />
participated. He called<br />
Wanda “a benevolent supporter<br />
of her church in Andrew, all<br />
things concerning rural life and<br />
youth.”<br />
She served on numerous<br />
boards, including those of<br />
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