Outstanding CattleWomen of the Year Named

Mary Henzel of Oberlin, Kansas, was named the Outstanding CattleWoman of the Year for 2002 during the American National CattleWomen Awards Banquet on Thursday evening of the national convention.  The award was sponsored by Bayer Animal Health.

Mary has been a local member of ANCW for over 40 years while holding memberships in local and state groups in Oregon, Oklahoma and Kansas.  She served as state president of Oklahoma CattleWomen in 1991 and 1992.  In the previous years, Mary served on the Oklahoma Beef Promotion Committee, as well as the Education, Legislative and Beef Gift Certificate committees.

In 1998 Mary was President of the American National CattleWomen, Inc. serving a total of eight years on the ANCW Executive Committee.  During her year as ACW President, she represented the organization on the NCBA Executive Committee, as well as serving on the first Partnership Planning Task Force with NCBA officer.  During Mary’s term as ANCW resident, several accomplishments were made to two major programs, namely: The National Beef Cook-Off and the Wow That Cow project.  Two new categories were introduced to the NBCO: 1)Ground chuck and round and 2)Prepared Beef.  A Spanish printing of Wow That Cow brochure was realized, two video tapes were produced starring ANCW members touting and sharing the benefits of Beef, particularly the new Prepared Beef, and thousands of Wow That Cow Bookmarks were printed and made available by Merial for distribution by cattlewomen nationwide.

On the national level, Mary’s involvement in ANCW over the years was on the committees of Ag in the Classroom, Beef Promotion, Budget, Bylaws, Legislative, Nominating and Outstanding CattleWoman of the Year, as well as Region Meeting Coordinator and the ANCW Foundation.  She took leadership responsibilities in the National Beef Cook-Off Evaluation Committee and after her term as National President, which time many new developments and innovations were made to the program, the most beneficial being the acquisition of sponsors (Phillip Morris and Ft. Dodge Animal Health) enabling Beef Ambassadors to travel to many urban and industry events on behalf of the beef industry.

Perhaps the most ambitious project Mary assumed for the American National CattleWomen, Inc. was serving as chairman and author of the 50th Anniversary Commemorative History Book in 2001.  Mary had the support from many for this venture but deserves much of the credit for giving many, many hours of reading past history and annual reports and recoding the content for this cherished book showcasing not only her talent for such a task but also her love for ANCW and its members.

Mary and her husband, Stuart, operate a stocker-feeder operation near Oberlin, Kansas.  They have three sons and one grandson, Jake.  Jim and family live in Southeast Oklahoma where he works in the state corrections system.  Brian is a Marketing Director in San Diego and Richard is an architect in Corpus Christi, Texas.  Mary’s other interests through the years have been as a volunteer at her church, a private piano lesson teacher, and a part-time reporter for a local newspaper.

The CattleWoman of the Year Award is given to a CattleWoman who has excelled at continued beef promotion on the local, state and national level while contributing dedication, commitment and support to the American National CattleWomen.  Mary Henzel certainly exemplifies these traits.