Joy Bickford

Grant County 4-H Volunteer

Joy Bickford’s commitment to 4-H has spanned most of her lifetime and over half a century. It started at age 17 when she formed the YY 4-H Club in Waukesha County, where she served as the main leader for 11 years.

Joy was a true pioneer in 4-H. She travelled to New Zealand in 1952 as one of the first 4-H IFYE Ambassadors. After returning, Joy was a coordinator for the IFYE program in Washington D.C., where her work focused on orientation and evaluation of 1,300 IFYE participants. Since then, she has been a life-long advocate of IFYE.

Today, Joy is the main 4-H leader of the Wingville Clovers 4-H Club in Grant County. She has earned many awards, including the Wisconsin Leadership Award, Grant County Meritorious Service and the I Dare ­You Award. Leadership roles include past President of the Grant County Leaders Association, representative to the Southern District 4-H Leaders Association and the Wisconsin State 4-H Leaders Association, where she served as President-elect and President.

Joy is respected as a genuine, confident, and caring leader who has the ability to positively engage others.