TRI-CITIES, Wash. –
Emma Acton is a 90-year-old volunteer in the Tri-Cities community who was recently awarded a President’s Lifetime Achievement Award, signed by POTUS.
Friday, she was honored by the 4-H board at the Benton-Franklin fair and given a lifetime service pin from the Whitehouse for over 50 years of service in the community.
Emma joined her first 4-H club in Iowa, where she was born before moving to be with her brother in Yakima.
She raised her seven children in Richland, WA and in 1971 her daughter joined a local equestrian club.
Emma started her own equestrian group in 1974, the Richland Wagoneers. She expanded the interests into cooking, sewing, food preservation and crafts.
Over 48 years many of her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren as well as extended family and friends took on membership roles as well.
As interests changed, so did the focus of the club, and for the last 18 years the club has manned the table for Creative Writing and Poetry.
“She has done so much over the years and it’s just kind of nice to see in her later years being recognized for at least some of it,” says her youngest son David Acton.
At 90 years old, Emma took this year to step back and enjoy the fair and was even awarded Benton-Franklin Fair’s, exhibitor of the year.