Lori Heemstra of Primghar was surprised Monday, July 22 during the O’Brien County Fair with the announcement that she is the newest O’Brien County inductee into the Iowa 4-H Hall of Fame.
Lori moved to O’Brien County in 1989 when she married her husband, Dennis Heemstra. Over the last 35 years, she has dedicated countless hours to the O’Brien County community. As the Heemstra family grew throughout the years with the addition of their three children, so did Lori’s contributions to various activities in O’Brien County. She served as the Ag In The Classroom Coordinator for O’Brien County. She was also the first female elected as state chair of the Young Farmers Committee of Iowa Farm Bureau.
When her kids were old enough to join 4-H, Lori was willing to help in whatever capacity needed. Even before being directly involved in 4-H as a leader, she would help with the Center Farmers 4-H club with her children Nathan, Jenna and Jillian. She would help assist the 4-H leaders Mark Hansen, Brad McDowell and Sandy Schoef with the various volunteer projects the club participated in, such as the butterfly garden in Tjossem Park, making walker bags for nursing homes throughout northwest Iowa, and cleaning ditches and Sneakers Run. Lori devoted time as a co-leader of the Center Farmers 4-H club from 2015 until 2023. She has also been involved in fair activities and has taken pictures of the 4-H members for the Farm Bureau booth for many years. In 2017, she took over as the Bill Riley Talent Search coordinator for O’Brien County.
Lori is also a very active member of her church, Christ Community Church of Primghar. She helped start the Wednesday Church After School Program, was the Vacation Bible School coordinator for multiple years for the churches of Primghar, and currently serves on her church’s mission committee. Through that committee, she has gone to Haiti, served on many local mission trips, and has planted flowers around the Primghar Square. She currently has plans to embark on another mission trip in August, this time to Romania.
Outside of the fair and church, Lori also is very involved with the schools of O’Brien County. She has subbed for South O’Brien and HMS schools for over 15 years. She also served on the music boosters board for South O’Brien as their treasurer and president, helping with the concession stand at home basketball games.