Woman Reunited With Record Book More Than 60 Years Later

A now elderly woman who grew up in Oklahoma is thankful for the kindness and diligence of her home state. She's been reunited with the record book she kept as a 4-H member in Bryan County. Sixty-six years since keeping the record book, it still means the

Thursday, February 21st 2019, 6:58 pm

By: Karl Torp

Woman Reunited With Record Book More Than 60 Years Later

A now elderly woman who grew up in Oklahoma is thankful for the kindness and diligence of her home state.

She's been reunited with the record book she kept as a 4-H member in Bryan County.

Sixty-six years since keeping the record book, it still means the world to her, even if it was gone for decades.

Recent cleaning at the OSU Extension campus in Pushmataha County, revealed the book on top of a filing cabinet. It belonged to Leona Eudora Johnson of Bryan County in the 1950’s.

“She was extremely detailed in her record book,” says Pushmataha County 4-H Educator Elizabeth Witt.

“She had put her heart and soul into it and I could tell as soon as I opened it up, it was a treasured item,” says Witt.

Through Facebook, Witt tracked down friends of Leona and finally the former 4-H member herself in Paramount, California.

“It was a very exciting feeling,” says Witt.

The 65-plus year-old record book was soon back in Leona's hands.

“It’s just a record book, but it means so much to me, because it's the story of my life for five years,” says Leona Stahovich from her California home.

Leona explained to News 9 that the record book got left with her 4-H group in Bryan County when her family moved out of state in the 50's. She was never able to retrieve and didn’t know what happened to all the records she kept.

Stahovich has since learned the record book was used as an example for later 4-H members, before ending up on the file cabinet one county away.

Leona is absolutely thrilled to have her record book back.

“It’s wonderful. I thought it was gone forever,” says Stahovich.

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