FITHIAN — It’s a good thing Dolores B. Green doesn’t mind traveling. As newly elected queen of the International Flying Farmers, she’ll be visiting various chapters around the country in a public-relations capacity.
Green, of rural Fithian, was selected from among six chapter queens at the 65th annual International Flying Farmers convention in Fond du Lac, Wis., last month.
The contestants were judged on their poise, personality, answers to questions from a five-judge panel and their promotion of the organization.
Green said she was surprised and honored to be chosen — especially because this is the first time that the Illinois chapter has had an international queen.
Bob Finley of Danville, who was recently re-elected president of the Illinois Flying Farmers, said it’s an honor for Green to be chosen.
“I think it’s really nice and she’ll do a nice job representing the Flying Farmers,” he said.
The Illinois group was pleased when she won, he said.
Green, who was Illinois queen before winning the national honor, didn’t expect to ever get this far. She got involved with Flying Farmers through her friendship with Finley, and, she said, “It just sort of evolved.”
As queen, she will travel to the chapters and become acquainted with the people. “I’ll see what different ideas they have to promote flying and preserving our farm lands,” she said.
She also will represent the organization at conventions in the coming year. The International Flying Farmers includes Mexico and Canada.
Next weekend, she and Finley will attend a Flying Farmers convention in Ontario.
Finley, who’s in his 80s, still holds a pilot’s license, but sold his plane a few years ago. Green doesn’t fly planes, so the two probably will drive to chapters and conventions, he said.
Green is owner of Rose Haven Farm near Oakwood, and Finley farmed in an area north of Danville and west of Bismarck much of his life.
Green said she enjoyed the convention in Fond du Lac, which included a tour to the Paine Museum and Oshkosh Air Venture. There also were seminars, business meeting, John Deere banquet and election of officers.
In June 2011, the International Flying Farmers Queen’s fly-in will be at the Vermilion Regional Airport in Danville.
The Flying Farmers group, founded in 1944, promotes the practical use of the airplane in the agriculture industry. Members use their aircraft to monitor irrigation systems, check livestock and the development of crops, dust fields, and especially to deliver and pick up supplies and parts.
The group also helps reduce unnecessary regulations for general aviation, promotes safe flying through continued education and upgrading, expresses the ideas and opinions of farm families at a national level and encourages the conservation of soil and water.
FYI
For more information about the Illinois Flying Farmers, visit the Web site http://www.illinoisflyingfarmers.org/ or call Bob Finley at 474-6633.
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