Agricultural Hall of Fame - JANE SIMPSON McKIMMON

JANE SIMPSON McKIMMON
November 13, 1867 - December 1, 1957

"Mrs. McKimmon's work has been the most outstanding contribution to the development of the State of North Carolina. She is the greatest home-builder of the State." So said Governor O. Max Gardener. U.S. Senator Josiah W. Bailey suggested the state erect a monument to Mrs. McKimmon to face Governor Vance's on Capitol Square. Dr. McKimmon established home demonstration work in North Carolina.

When she picked up the reins in 1911, the programs total enrollment was 416 farm girls in 14 counties. Thirty years later membership in 100 counties reached 75,000. This exciting saga Dr. McKimmon related in her book "When We're Green We Grow," published in 1945. Both the State and National Home Economics Association proudly claim Dr. McKimmon as a founder and past President. The University of North Carolina conferred on her an honorary LL.D. in 1934. She was the first woman in the United States to be award the "Distinguished Service Ruby," by Epsilon Sigma Phi, national honorary extension fraternity.

Four North Carolina governors recognized Dr. McKimmon's ability and appointed her to a number of state boards touching on home economics and farm life. Her work was dramatized coast-to-coast in May 1949, by the National Broadcasting Company on its half-hour weekly feature, "Cavalcade of America." Dr. McKimmon's work led rural women and girls to a fuller, more comfortable and efficient life.

Elected to the North Carolina
AGRICULTURAL HALL OF FAME
1966