Historic 



EARL C. SMITH RETIRES AFTER 20 YEARS AS PRESIDENT — fcHAR 



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Retiring President Smith 

 Vice President F. E. 



congratulates 

 Morris 



Rep. Everett Dirksen emphasizes a point 

 during his oddress 



9.m 



Members and delegates register as they 

 arrive tor iirst session 



Treasurer Cowles reports on the state of 

 lAA finances for past year 



ONE of the most dramatic meetings 

 in the history of the Association 

 — that's the best way to describe 

 the 31st annual sessions of the Illinois 

 Agricultural Association and its asso- 

 ciated companies held in November of 

 1945 at the Hotel Sherman, Chicago. 



Years from now, when older Farm 

 Bureau members are talking about his- 

 toric annual meetings of the Associa- 

 tion, the 1945 sessions will probably 

 be the most vividly remembered. It 

 will be remembered as the year in 

 which Earl C. Smith retired as presi- 

 dent of the lAA, the greatest state farm 

 organization in the United States. It 

 will be remembered as the year in 

 which Charles B. Shuman, of Sullivan, 

 Moultrie county livestock farmer, who 

 had served on the lAA board for five 

 years, was elected to the presidency. At 

 38, Mr. Shuman is just a few years 

 younger than Mr. Smith was when he 

 succeeded Sam H. Thompson as Associa- 

 tion president. 



It will be remembered as a year when 

 Vice-President Talmage Defrees retired 

 as vice-president, after 11 conscientious 

 years in that position, and was suc- 

 ceeded by Floyd E. Morris, of Buffalo, 

 Sangamon, a member of the board of 

 directors. 



It will be remembered as the year in 

 which three directors. Alvin O. Eckert, 

 Belleville; Albert Hayes, Chillicothe 

 and W. A. Dennis, Paris, all of whom 

 had long and distinguished records of 

 service, retired from the board of di- 

 rectors. 



Announcement of the retirement of 



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AUN BUIlE/%11 MEMBEHS 



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By CRESTON poSTI 



the beloved farm leader after 20 years 

 of outstanding service came like a 

 bombshell. Monday morning, the open- 

 ing day of the preliminary sessions, Mr. 

 Smith informed the board of directors 

 and officers of his intention to with- 

 draw from active leadership. Prior to 

 that time, the only person Mr. Smith 

 had consulted was his wife. 



At the closed meeting of County 

 Farm Bureau presidents and farm ad- 

 visers, Mr. Smith issued the official an- 

 nouncement of his retirement. The, 

 leaders were stunned at his words. The 

 news travelled rapidly throughout the 

 convention halls. A news release was 

 given to the press wire services and 

 that afternoon and the next day, rural 

 people of downstate Illinois read the 

 startling news. 



Just before the noon recess on Wed- 

 nesday morning, the first day of the 

 general sessions of the lAA, Mr. Smith 

 discussed his retirement with the an- 

 nual meeting delegates. 



The lAA retiring president declared 

 that he had come to a time of life when 



lAA President Charles B. Shumon receivi 



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