COLUMBUS – Six people will be recognized as new members of the Ohio State Fair hall of fame Aug. 8 during a ceremony at the fair.
The ceremony will be 11:30 a.m. in Rhodes center.
New members include E. Denslow Eversole of Baltimore; Richard Lewis of Orient; C. LaVon Shook of Columbus; Ruth Stackhouse of Wakeman; Esta Lee Strauser of Mount Vernon; and Walter M. Burns of Plain City.
Eversole. Eversole will be recognized for 65 years of participation and support at the Ohio State Fair. Eversole has shown cattle at the fair since 1936. In 2001, three generations of the Eversole family were exhibitors.
Richard Lewis. Lewis has been an exhibitor at the Ohio State Fair for 40 years. He has also judged dairy breeds at the Ohio State Fair.
Lewis has been active in the Ohio Holstein Association and Ohio Farm Bureau. He currently resides with his wife, Sally, on their farm in Pickaway County.
Another inductee. Strauser has been active with the Ohio State Fair and Girl Scouts for 31 years. She served on the Ohio State Fair Girl Scout Committee for 12 years, serving as first and second assistant superintendent, as well as superintendent.
Strauser is an honorary lifetime member to the Girl Scout Ohio State Fair Committee. She was also the first person ever to receive the Heart of Ohio Council Award.
Stackhouse. Stackhouse served for eight years on the Ohio Expositions Commission, where she promoted the Ohio State Fair to community groups, news media and governmental officials.
Stackhouse was honored as the 1996 Ohio Agricultural Woman of the Year due to her service on the Ohio Expositions Commission, as well as her service to agriculture.
Inductee. Burns was appointed to the Ohio Expositions Commission in 1975 to fill a 2-year term. He was then reappointed for a six-year term in 1977.
As commissioner, Burns served as chairman, vice chairman and secretary. He has received the honorary FFA degree and is currently a member of the Ohio Agricultural Council. Burns currently resides in Plain City with his wife, Dianne.
C. Shook. Shook has been a supporter of the Ohio State Fair for over 50 years. He has kept records detailing the events of each fair and compiled them into his limited edition book, A History of the Ohio State Fair.
His research has been vital to the construction of the History in the Making exhibit, where he volunteers with the set-up and operation of the exhibit.
Over the past 27 years, 222 employees, volunteers, commissioners and friends of the fair have been inducted into the Ohio State Fair hall of fame.
