LISBON, Ohio — The Columbiana County Agriculture Hall of Fame selection committee elected two individuals to the Class of 2013: Curtis F. Hively, of Unity Township; and Carey Augustus Houlette, of Fairfield Township. They bring the total number of members in the Hall of Fame to 58.
All awards are presented posthumously.
The pair will be enshrined at the Columbiana County Fair, July 30, at 10:30 a.m. in the Arts & Crafts Building. The enshrinees’ families will also be honored, and framed portraits and biographical sketches of each individual will be unveiled.
The biographies of the previous inductees are permanently displayed in the Arts & Crafts Building.
This year’s inductees include:
Carey Augustus Houlette, 1898-1973
Carey Augustus Houlette was a pioneer of many dairy and crop production practices in Columbiana County during his distinguished career as a dairyman in Fairfield Township. He provided leadership to many endeavors, both in agriculture and in the community at large.
Houlette was a member of the Dairymans Cooperative Sales Association, which covered Geauga, Ashtabula, Trumbull, Mahoning, Columbiana, Stark and Carroll counties. A board member for 16 years, he negotiated wages, benefits and labor laws for milk truck drivers working with the association. He was also dedicated to improving the dairy community’s overall performance and animal welfare as a member and then president of the Ohio Dairyman’s Association, and as a member of the Federal Milk Marketing Board.
He also was an early proponent of soil erosion prevention through contour farming and crop rotation, and worked with Ohio State University to learn soil management and improve his farming techniques, both with the crops and the dairy herd. He was one of the first to install a closed system bulk tank and DeLaval glass milk pipeline, and three-cow stanchion system, in 1954, for his Jersey herd. The new construction included a new wooden pole barn and twin Unadella wooden silos. He remained active in his farm work and dairy industry demands until his retirement in 1966.
He also found the time to drive school bus for Fairfield Centralized School District for 16 years, and was a member of the county Republican Central Committee, precinct chairman, and Columbiana County Election Board member for 11 years. He served as a Fairfield Township trustee for 14 years, and dedicated 51 years as a member of the Columbiana Allan Masonic Lodge, and was a lifetime member of the Grace Church of Columbiana.
He and his wife, the former Dorothy Mae Bell, married in 1924 and raised six children.
Curtis F. Hively, 1907-1967
Curtis F. Hively was a general crop and beef cattle farmer in eastern Columbiana County’s Unity Township, but his leadership and agricultural abilities were anything but ordinary.
Hively was born, raised and then farmed his entire lifetime on the family’s historic farmstead near New Waterford, Ohio. He and his wife, Esther, raised eight children there, and the Hively’s Highland Farm continues today, having marked its 200th year in 2007.
An innovator, Curtis Hively bought the area’s first row crop tractor on rubber tires in 1937, a 32 hp Huber Model B, and was in demand to do planting and harvesting custom work for other farmers. His interest in cattle led him to register his Shorthorn beef cattle with the American Shorthorn Association in 1947, and he took an active role in local and state cattle breeding and production programs.
In 1949, the family started showing cattle at the Columbiana County Fair and Canfield Fair, and Hively served on the Columbiana County Agricultural Society board in the 1950s, providing leadership to the construction of the fairgrounds’ Coliseum and cattle barn.
He was a lifetime member and leader of the Zion Lutheran Church, serving as trustee, elder and Sunday school superintendent. Active in other community organizations, Hively was also elected to the New Waterford Board of Education, serving as its vice president during the 1950s, and was instrumental in helping the school build additional classrooms.
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