WOOSTER, Ohio — The Buckeye Agricultural Museum & Education Center, 877 W. Old Lincolnway, Wooster, recently named two new members to its board of directors. Heather Reed and Forrest Lang, both of Wooster, began their terms at the beginning of the year.
Reed has worked as a museum educator, curator and executive director for the past 20 years. She holds a bachelor’s degree in American history from The College of Wooster and a master’s degree in public history with a focus in museum studies from North Carolina State University. She began her career with the National Parks Service, then branched out to historic sites, historical societies and museums in seven different states. Most recently Reed served as the executive director at the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs Farm and Ranch Museum, an AAM-accredited museum and working ranch in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Over the past two decades, she has also served on several museum boards, volunteered at a variety of non-profit and civic organizations and helped plan state and national museum conferences.
Reed currently works at the Wayne County Visitors Bureau. She also works with her husband, Lee Ayres, helping run her grandparents’ farm at Wooster’s west edge.
Lang is from a fourth-generation Wayne County farming family. Growing up he was active in 4-H and helped out on his family’s cattle farm, baling hay with his uncle during the summers.
After graduating from Triway High School, he earned a bachelor’s degree in agricultural systems management with a minor in agribusiness from the Ohio State University. During college he worked with the Farm Science Review and the Agricultural Engineering Department in Columbus, assisting with machinery performance trials. He later completed a master’s degree in agricultural education and returned to Wooster where he currently teaches at the Ohio State Agricultural Technical Institute.
Lang and his wife Morgan recently purchased land to expand their produce- and pasture-related livestock operations.
Other directors of the Buckeye Agricultural Museum are Tom Stocksdale, Bob Troutman, Paul Locher, Mike Buchholz, Dr. Richard Mairs, Bonnie Schaaf, Rod Scheibe and Jay Stout (emeritus).
The museum’s annual meeting and members’ dinner will be held Feb. 25. The 22,000-square-foot Buckeye Agricultural Museum presents extensive exhibits about the development of agriculture in Ohio from the first opening of the wilderness in 1800 up to World War II. Currently the museum is open for group tours by appointment.
