Four generations of 4-H and the Fair

In the back row, all wearing hats, are Paul Crabill, Justin Crabill, Coleman Lay and Joe Lay. In front are, left to right, Marla Crabill, Josie Lay and Candi Lay.

By ADRIENNE GOODRICH
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The Crabill family has been involved in Baker County 4-H for four generations.

And there’s no reason to believe this legacy will end there.

Both Paul Crabill Jr. and his father, Paul Sr. started participating in 4-H activities at age nine.

Paul Jr.’s  sons, Gary and Dennis, and his daughter Candi (Lay) all were active in 4-H, too.

And so were Candi’s children, daughter Josey Lay and son Coleman Lay.

With such a lengthy family history in 4-H and the County Fair, Candi said there was never any question that her children would follow in her footsteps in the show ring.

“I just didn’t know any other way,” she said. “It’s just always been the way we were all brought up.”

“It’s where she got her flair for grooming,” her husband, Joe Lay, said with a laugh.

The family’s commitment to 4-H has resulted in its being honored as the Fair Family of the Year for 2011.

Paul Jr. grew up on a ranch of 365 acres at the base of the Elkhorns on Marble Creek Road about 10 miles west of Baker City.

The Crabills had teams of horses, put up their own hay, and even mixed their own grain for the animals.

Paul Jr. said the family had a long feed box where they would mix the grain, putting in beet pulp, barley, molasses and other ingredients.

Paul Sr. also raised hogs, including 100 brood sows which often gave birth out in the brush.

“We had those coal oil lanterns and we would hang them on the brush so the bobcats wouldn’t eat (the piglets),” Paul Jr. said.

A lot more than lanterns and mixing grain have changed, though, since Paul Jr. showed his first 4-H animal.

Inflation, for one thing.

His father told him that when he was a boy he would sell his steers for six cents a pound. That would have been around the 1930s.

Paul Jr. sold his for 50 to 60 cents a pound in the 1950s.

His children sold theirs for about 75 cents a pound in the 1970s.

And last year, his grandson Coleman’s steer sold for $1.55 a pound.

Paul Jr.’s interest in 4-H didn’t end when he became too old to show.

Not even close.

He has been the chairman of the 4-H and FFA market buyers committee for 31 years.

“Every year he says it’s his last,” his wife, Marla, said.

She was also involved in 4-H, taking a sewing class when she was young.

“I went from there to home ec, and I still sew,” she said.

Marla also supports Paul as he does his work for the committee.

“I grumble all the way through it, but I help,” she said with a smile.

The Crabill family has been most active in showing steers, but Paul Jr. also showed sheep, and his granddaughter Josey showed swine as well.

Coleman will be showing for the last time this year, as he is a 2011 Baker High School graduate.

Paul Jr.’s grandkids said their involvement with 4-H, besides being a link to their family, is a natural outgrowth of their growing up on a ranch near Medical Springs.

“It has been really nice to actually live on a ranch and experience it,” Josey said.

Coleman agreed: “A lot of kids have to buy their project from a distributor, it’s nice to be able to pick the best from your own herd.”

One thing from his youth Paul Jr. says he will never forget was when his father had a rash on his stomach and started wearing bib overalls.

Not long after they needed to go collect a heifer.

The heifer jumped up and one of her legs landed in the the front pocket of Paul Sr.’s overall.s

“If it hadn’t been half rotten it would have drug him until it pulled his pants off,” Paul Jr. said, laughing.

Although this year’s Fair Family of the Year honor is a culmination of sorts, it’s hardly the first time the Crabill family has been recognized for its achievements.

Candi had the reserve grand champion steer in 1987, Josey received the steer carcass contest award in 2001, and Coleman had the grand champion steer in 2001.

Paul Jr. received the 2007 outstanding service 4-H award.

“I think it was because I’d been there so long,” he said humbly.

And even beyond awards, the family has contributed to 4-H by helping the next generation learn.

“I like helping,” Josey said. “I think it’s a great experience for any kid to do.”

Both Josey and Coleman say that they plan on continuing the 4-H legacy in their family if and when they have children.

“It’s a nice thing to do together,” Josey said. “It’s a very family-oriented type of living.”