‘Mr. Ed’ gifts TR-R10 youth with 4-H club

The Royal Riders 4-H Clubs at Twin Rivers R-10 truly stands for head, heart, hands and health.

Twin Rivers substitute teacher Ed Flanigan credits his students with aiding in his recovery from his 2012 heart attack and to repay them, he started the Royal Riders 4-H Club.

After suffering a heart attack at his Olgesville home, Flangian was first treated at Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center and transferred to a Columbia, Missouri hospital.

Haley Price of the Royal Riders 4-H Club slices a tomato for tacos during a 4-H cooking class. DAR/Barbara Ann Horton

Flanigan said, he received “two notebooks of letters from the kids. I said if I live through this, I’m going to do something back for them. I started thinking about starting a 4-H club.”

According to Flanigan, 4-H clubs have since been organized at the high school, middle schools and Qulin grade school.

Flanigan is better known to the students as Mr. Ed. He understands the students and the area.

He was raised in nearby Pollard, Arkansas and graduated from Piggott High School. His children attended Twin Rivers.

Flanigan graduated from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Arkansas, with a degree in agronomy. He worked in the field of agriculture throughout his youth and adult years. He serves on the Qulin Nutrition Board, and is a former member of the Butler County University of Missouri Extension Council.

He and retired University of Missouri Extension Specialist Phyllis Flanigan have been married for 47 years. They have a daughter, Heather Flanigan-Garrett, son-in-law Brett, and one grandson, Colt, all of Ballston Lake, New York. They also have a son, Jim, who is a police officer in Jonesboro, Arkansas. Jim and his wife, Jessica, have a daughter, Sophie.

After Flanigan’s recovery, he went to the school and talked with the students about starting a club.

Twin Rivers student Allison Politte said, “Mr. Ed came to my school, and talked to my class about 4-H.” Politte “wanted to join a club I would like” and she knew 4-H was the club.

“There was just such an interest in learning life skills such as cooking, doing laundry and ironing,” Flanigan said.

Smiling, Flanigan admits teaching the sessions on laundry. He explained when he was in college, most of his clothes were cotton and had to be ironed.

Different guest speakers are invited to talk to the clubs. These have included fire chiefs from Poplar Bluff and Qulin. A Butler County sheriff’s deputy talked about law enforcement.

The speakers talk about “things that are happening in our area,” he said.

The students explained club community service projects like cleaning up the town of Qulin, moving the library, school supply drives help them to be better citizens.

The high school group presently is participating in cooking classes conducted by Maude Harris, Flanigan, a community engagement specialist in nutrition and health with the University of Missouri Extension. Harris teaches teens important lessons about self-sufficiency in the kitchen. Participants practice fundamental lessons including knife skills, reading ingredient labels and food preparation.

Flanigan said, “I keep them busy.”

Trips have been to Crowley’s Ridge Wildlife and in August the group went to Arkansas State University campus in Jonesboro, Arkansas. They visited a wildlife nature center and agriculture museum. They also went to the Memphis Zoo.

A favorite trip is 4-H Day with the Cardinals at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. The first year the local group attended there were “2,500 of us from Missouri, Illinois and Kentucky,” Flanigan said. “We all got 4-H shirts with the Cardinals on front. The first time the Royal Riders attended a Cardinal game, we had 94, including parents, which was around 50 or 60 percent of the club members.”

Politte’s favorite 4-H activities have been attending the baseball games and cooking. She credits the program with showing “me how to help the community and how to become a better person.”

Rowyn Fiske said, Royal Riders “teaches you a lot of stuff. They have stuff for everyone and anyone.”

Fiske agrees with Politte, the cooking projects and baseball trips are favorites.

Fiske also said, “I’ve made new friends, learned how to make food for my family, and learned how to keep my school and community clean.”

The success of the 4-H club is not just the work of Flanigan. Several teachers, parent volunteers and the Twin Rivers R-10 school system have joined in the project.

Faculty member Nancy Morse serves as leader of the Royal Riders elementary club with faculty volunteers Stephanie Pratt and Nalynn Hillis. Additional volunteers include faculty member Hayley Benson and parent volunteer Sarah Musgraves. At the middle school and high school, volunteers include school faculty members Paula Brashers, Scott Kirkman and Tresa Lemarr; and volunteers Phyllis Flanigan and Pat Bradley.

Stephanie N. Milner is county engagement specialist in 4-H Youth Development with the University of Missouri Extension.

She said, “Ed Flanigan started the Royal Riders 4-H clubs in Qulin and it has been the most successful club in the area for several years.”

Flanigan works hard with other volunteers in the area and the Twin Rivers clubs have had over 60 members in the last few years, Milner said.

“He is a great volunteer and always works to make sure youth in the area have every opportunity possible. Ed always makes sure the club members are fed and have assistance paying dues if they need it,” she continued. “He works hard with the Butler County 4-H council to arrange field trips for youth each year. Butler County would not have the access to transportation if it wasn’t for Ed’s hard work! He does everything he can to make sure all the youth have fun and love 4-H.”

Students Politte and Fiske appreciate Flanigan’s efforts.

Politte said, “I would like to say thank you to him for taking us on those trips even though he doesn’t have to. He makes everything fun and cool.”

Fiske said, “I would like to say thank you Mr. Ed for making 4-H interesting, always encouraging us to do what we want, and for putting up with all of us kids even though he doesn’t have to.”