Throwback Thursday: October Beef Month 1985

#ThrowbackThursday to 1985 in Franklin County. Pictured are members of the Franklin County Cattlemen’s Associations and CowBelles as they pose with school officials from the county. The Cattlemen and CowBelles donated a butchered steer to the schools’ home economics departments. 1985 was the fifth year to do this in observation of October Beef Month in Alabama.

Throwback Thursday: 1950-1960

This week’s #ThrowBackThursday took place in 1953 when Alabama was still one of the few states to have conducted a comprehensive beef promotion program. Governor Gordon Persons attached the first promotional “Eat More Beef” bumper sticker to his official Cadillac. With him are 1953 President of the ACA Sen. Preston Clayton, left, and Executive Secretary of the ACA Ham Wilson, right.

Another notable event of 1953 was the creation of the Alabama CowBelles Association. On February 6, 1953, after Mack Maples (outgoing president of the ACA) and Ham Wilson attended the American National Cattlemen’s Association convention where they learned about the recent organization of the American National CowBelles, the CowBelles Association found a home in Alabama with Mrs. Mack Maples serving as the first president. The Alabama CowBelles Association is now known as the Alabama Cattlewomen’s Association. Pictured are some of the earliest photographed CowBelle officers from 1960, Viola Molette, Louise Wilson, Ora Lee Park, Mrs. Flynn Morris and Mrs. J.L. Adams. 

(Information and pictures taken from It’s Great to be Number One! By Dan W. Hollis and the ACA Library)