Paying a ‘life-changing experience’ forward to future 4-Hers

Growing up on a remote farm with no phone lines in her section of Buckingham County, Virginia, Katherine Wassink viewed 4-H as a “lifeline.”

“4-H was life in the summer,” she said. “It was an activity to work on, a chance to see other kids at camp, and an opportunity to perfect an interest or skill by entering in competitions at the county, district, and state level. It created a lifestyle for me whether or I realized it or not at the time.”

Through her participation in the youth development education program of Virginia Cooperative Extension, Wassink developed skills that have served her for almost 80 years of life and provided the foundation for an award-winning career in clothing construction and fiber arts.

To pay those same opportunities forward to other children, Wassink created the Eleanor Roach and Virginia Bailey 4-H Endowment for Buckingham County. The endowment is named after her mother, Eleanor Roach, who was a home economics teacher and 4-H leader in the county, and Virginia Bailey, the 4-H Extension agent who inspired Wassink to enter and win sewing competitions as a teenager.

“If I hadn’t had 4-H, I don’t know what I’d be doing right now,” Wassink said. “I’ve used it as a stepping stone for practically everything in my life. I want more 4-Hers to get that experience of attending camp because that broadens your outlook and exposes you to new people, ideas, and challenges you might not encounter otherwise.”

Buckingham County Extension Agent Ruth Wallace said Wassink’s generosity will enable a half-dozen fourth grade students in the county can receive full scholarships, each year from now on, thanks to Wassink’s generous endowment.

“Here in Buckingham County, more than 70 percent of children are eligible for free and reduced lunch rates and between 30 to 45 percent of 4-H campers require financial aid,” Wallace said. “Katherine’s gift will ensure that more children in our community who lack the financial means can have the life-changing experience of attending camp.”

Wassink joined 4-H in sixth grade at the urging of Bailey, her county 4-H agent. She began entering local, county, district, and state contests in public speaking; Share-the-Fun (talent); and Dress Revue (now called Fashion Revue) contests. Wassink won awards in all three at the state level. It wasn’t until her fourth try in the 4-H Dress Revue that she won the top prize and a trip to Chicago for the 4-H National Congress.

Her talent and persistence captured the attention of the people at Simplicity, the sewing pattern company that was the competition’s national sponsor. Shortly after graduating from William & Mary with a degree in art history, Wassink was hired as a traveling educational fashion stylist for Simplicity. The job required her to travel from city to city, giving fashion education programs at schools and colleges throughout the eastern U.S. Because of her 4-H background, Wassink also was chosen to lead summer workshops at state land-grant universities.

After three years at Simplicity, Wassink joined the staff at College of The Albemarle in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, where she helped develop and implement a $2 million grant from the Rockefeller Foundation to help area youth expand their professional skills for the workplace. She also started an adult education clothing construction program.

After marrying, Wassink continued her work as a volunteer board chair for an Extension-sponsored crafts marketing program. She also continued to make clothing and compete for awards. In 2003 and 2005, she was grand national winner in the American Sewing Guild’s creativity contest.

“One can only wear so many clothes,” Wassink said. So in 2005, she decided to apply her sewing skills and art education background to enter juried art shows using fiber as her medium.

“I finally decided what I wanted to do when I grew up,” she said. “I wanted to make something that could hang on the wall.”

While she jokingly refers to her pieces as “Katherine’s rags,” they more closely resemble framed fine oil paintings than traditional fiber-based works.

Wassink’s naturalistic scenes of water, beaches, sunsets, farms, and swamps, are made entirely from natural and recycled fiber. Within each piece, she incorporates reused materials and objects found in nature that catch her attention, including feathers, buttons, clothing, neck ties, copper wire, rosemary branches, bark from a tree in her yard, and even the hair of her beloved copper poodle. Each work is expertly sewed – never glued or painted. The end result is precise and flawless – more like a painted landscape than a textile creation.

“The first piece I did and took to the local arts council, they wouldn’t accept it because they said it was a craft, not art,” she said. “My quest for the next few years was to get fiber accepted as a creative medium in northeast North Carolina.”

Since waging her successful campaign, Wassink has received more than 60 awards in regional art shows. Her work has hung in the White House – a tree ornament for the Clinton Christmas tree – and in galleries throughout North Carolina. Several of her pieces are currently on display at Museum of the Albemarle.

Wassink says each piece she completes is a tribute to her 4-H training.

“Because I was grounded so well in 4-H clothing and the motto of making the best better, I don’t stop working until I’m satisfied that each piece is as good as I can make it,” she said. “4-H is ingrained in me to this day. It’s given me so much. I want to pay the experience forward to someone else.”