In this Courier-Herald photo from April 26, 1945, Joe Felchlin, an 18-year-old future farmer received a three-year-old Holstein cow presented by Ben Johansen, an officer of the First National Bank of Enumclaw. Each year the local bank gave a registered heifer to a boy participating in the Enumclaw chapter of Future Farmers of America. Joe Felchlin was selected as the outstanding F.F.A. student by the chapter and was allowed to choose a Jersey, Guernsey, or Holstein, the three major dairy breeds of the day. The heifer was named Lyric Imperial Myrt and came from the high milk-producing strain of Holsteins who averaged 600 pounds of butterfat per year. Holsteins account for over 90% of dairy cows in the U.S. and are recognized by their distinctive color pattern of black and white or red and white. The bank sponsored the “Perpetual Dairy Calf Project” to which Felchlin signed a 10-point contract for the care, breeding, production records, and other elements of animal husbandry. The Enumclaw bank paid $300 for the cow as part of a community program to increase local dairy production.
Joseph M. Felchlin was a lifetime resident of Enumclaw. He was born Jan. 16, 1927, the youngest of six children to Henry and Agatha Felchlin. Joe graduated from Enumclaw High School in 1945. Felchlin became a dairy farmer out of high school until 1955, when drafted into the Army. After his military service concluded, he was employed as a meat cutter by Pacific Meats and Hygrade Meats in Tacoma, then transferred to the Rainier State School in Buckley, from which he retired in 1992. Felchlin was proud of his Swiss heritage, as well as memberships in Buckley Eagles and Auburn Elks. He peacefully passed away at his home on June 29, 2008 and is buried at the Evergreen Memorial Cemetery in Enumclaw. This photo #EPL0015-372a comes courtesy of the Schlotfeldt-Pioneer collection held at Washington Rural Heritage, a community memory project headquartered at the Washington State Library.
