“Love thy work, and life will be a happy one.”

Those words by 19^th century English writer and artist John Ruskin are favorites of Sherry Fulton’s.  By most measures, Sherry would agree with Ruskin’s assessment — she has loved her work, hence, her life has been a happy one.

Sherry will retire at the end of March after nearly 35 years as unit educator for University of Illinois Extension, most of her career spent in DeWitt County.  But as much as she has loved her work here, doing what she always knew she was meant to do, Sherry looks forward to the next phase of her life and new adventures.

“A lot of it is attitude,” Sherry says.  “Because in my 34 ½ years, we have gone through ups and downs.”

Sherry says she feels fortunate that she has spent the majority of her career in DeWitt County and that DeWitt County has had the funds to support Extension programs.

“About half our funding comes from DeWitt County tax dollars,” she says.

Several years ago, Sherry told the Journal about how much she enjoyed teaching, which is a big part of what she does in the myriad programs Extension conducts, including the 4-H program. 

“I just really enjoy teaching,” she said then.

She also said her parents, who operated a dairy farm in Iowa, were very education conscious and were strong influences in guiding her future career.  Sherry earned her Bachelor of Science from Iowa State University and, later, her Master of Science from the University of Illinois.

Sherry met her husband John while working with Extension.  He, too, will retire at the end of March from the Logan County Extension office.  They have three adult children, Andrew, and twins David and Daniel.

The desire to teach has been at the heart of Sherry’s years with Extension.

“It warms my heart; yes, I’m retiring, but I’m passing that skill set to not only my own kids, but other kids,” Sherry said.

And, adults benefit from Extension programs as well.

“Of course there’s 4-H, but there’s the Small Farms Program, there’s Food & Nutrition, the Horticulture, the Master Gardeners, and we definitely do some partnerships with those groups,” Sherry says.

4-H itself is offering some of the most exciting programs in its history.

“4-H has expanded into robotics,” Sherry says.  “My gosh, that’s exciting.”

In fact, the robotics program is so popular, the group has some 30 meetings scheduled for this year.

“The kids were engaged; they were working on their robotics — that’s cool stuff.”

The success of the program has hinged on a large part on the quality of volunteers who can work with the kids.

“For me, it’s finding the volunteers who have that skill set to be teaching kids,” Sherry says.

She had praise in general for all of the volunteers who make the Extension programs and 4-H what it is.

This includes Dan Enos and his volunteer work with the horse program, something he started many years ago.

“And, it just grew and grew,” Sherry says.  “And, starting in April, they’ll be out there every Thursday riding.  That’s really cool.”

As president of the DeWitt County 4-H Fair, Enos, too, has led continual improvements of the fairgrounds.

“He’s given it the leadership, as a lot of people have.  The fairgrounds look really nice.”

Sherry also is proud of the DeWitt County 4-H Foundation board, formed when she first arrived at DeWitt County Extension in the early 1980s.

“And, with funding the way it is, I repeatedly tell the Foundation board, ‘you may be a big source of the 4-H program.   Keep that 4-H Foundation going.”

The Foundation board has helped many times supplementing funding to create new programs or help existing ones.

Sherry said the Foundation had been the recipient of a number of generous donations and memorials.

“I just want to see them keep going,” she says.

Sherry also praised the diligence of retired Clinton teacher Don Prather, who has served as Foundation treasurer since its inception.

“Big hats off to Don Prather.  He does the most thorough treasurer’s report, and I really appreciate that.”

But, as much as she has enjoyed her career with Extension, Sherry says she just feels it’s time for her to move on.

“I’m not retiring, I’m just rewiring,” she read somewhere.  “And, I thought, exactly, it is time to go do something else.”

Sherry said she had a pretty full calendar through the summer.  One of her sons is getting married, and her mother will celebrate her 90^th birthday.

After that, some traveling, some gardening, and who knows.

“…life will be a happy one.”