Kent Bush
Gazette Publisher
publisher@augustagazette.com

Elaine Thomas doesn't do anything a little bit or for a little while.
She just completed her forty-sixth year as the Community Leader of the Lily Lake 4-H Club. She has taught the Head, Heart, Hands and Health program to three generations of some families in Butler County.
The club emphasizes responsibility, public speaking, how to work with others and community service.
"The relationship with the kids can't be explained," said Thomas, who will celebrate her seventh-sixth birthday in a couple of weeks. "I just love working with people and seeing their accomplishments. It's in my blood. I was raised that way and I never knew anything different."
The program has changed a lot since the early 1960s when Thomas took over the local program.
"There have been big changes in the program itself," Thomas said. "But the biggest change is in the families and the schools. Families are very different now than they were then and there are so many sports and activities that take away the time families used to spend with 4-H."
One of the cornerstones of 4-H is community service. The Lily Lake 4-H does a lot of work in downtown Augusta, but not as much as Thomas does.
She has also spent more than 40 years as an insurance agent in the downtown area. She is still a Farm Bureau agent.
Because of her ties to the downtown area and her desire to serve the community, Thomas became active in the Chamber of Commerce. After serving as President of the Chamber in 2000, a program called Main Street Kansas was growing in popularity. Thomas and several other chamber members worked hard to develop what has become Downtown Augusta Inc.
Thomas said her motives for devoting so much of her time to the area were simple.
"It is my heart," she said. "My children lived here. It has always been my dream to help make downtown Augusta great."
"She is here all the time with nothing to gain," said DAI director Julie Roller. "She just cares that much."
One of the plans that has Thomas excited is the Streetscape plan. She looks forward to the day in 2009 when the project is complete and the thoroughfares in downtown Augusta are more beautiful and functional.
"It is going to be wonderful," Thomas said.
When Thomas isn't working in downtown Augusta or with her 4-H students, Thomas spends time with her husband Bill, her four children - she and Bill lost one son a few years ago - their 16 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
Even though she is 10 years past the normal retirement age, Thomas has no plans to slow down.
"I have always been active in the community and I will be as long as I can," Thomas said.