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After 60 years as a 4-H adviser, Velma Stacy is hanging up her scissors - for the most part, anyway.

Stacy has been an integral part of Sew Sharp 4-H club of Old Fort since its inception.

"When you start out, you have children, then you have grandchildren," she said.

Now at age 82, she has great-grandchildren, but they're still too young for 4-H.

"I'm quitting," she said. "This is my last year."

The first children Stacy had in her club would now be around 70 years old. This year, Sew Sharp has 20 members - mainly girls, but a few boys are learning to sew.

Stacy doesn't know how many young people have passed through Sew Sharp during her years as adviser.

"Just say hundreds," she said.

Stacy said she's noticed many changes through the years - from the 4-H program itself to the people who are involved.

"Families are changing," she said. "When we first started, we had the kids and their mothers and we all sewed together.

"We did a lot of hand sewing when we started out," she said. "The kids don't do any hand sewing now. If they can't zip it up in 10 minutes on a machine, they don't want to be involved."

Each year, she said, the members choose a community service project to take part in. This year, they made quilts for premature babies.

"Every year, we do something different," she said. "We go to nursing homes and make place mats. And we've made pillow cases for cancer patients."

Through the years, she helped build floats for parades and helped design countless 4-H booths.

"We had a lot of good times and we built floats and we entered parades," she said. "Now, they don't even have floats."

Stacy started by assisting with the now-defunct Betsy Ross club in Old Fort. When that group grew to 65 members, they decided to split it into two groups, and Sew Sharp was born.

Pat Overmyer is the head adviser now.

"She takes care of the organization now," Stacy said. "I help with the sewing. I do it at the house. I do it one on one."

The first step in teaching a child to sew is to take the thread out of the machine and let them practice maneuvering the needle.

"We have a little diagram that goes around and around," she said.

"Starting with the first project, we sit right there with them at the sewing machine," she said. "The thing is I'm left-handed. If I stand across from them and show them, they can do it right handed.

"The idea is to learn to read and follow instructions," she said. "Mark it off as you go. If you don't learn to follow instructions in the beginning, it makes it that much harder."

Stacy said her club has had many members selected to take their projects to the state fair.

"There's generally four or five every year," she said. "But they do all the little things I tell them to do.

"They have to do something so it doesn't like (it came from) Walmart," she said. "They key is in the extra details. You've always got some kids that are so good."

4-H is only part of the activities Stacy is involved with at the fair.

Tuesday, she and husband, Dale, were chairpersons of the ticket gates in their roles as members of the Granges of Seneca County.

"I met my husband at the fair," she said. "We were very shy, though."

She and Dale met in the 1940s. They've been married 63 years and haven't missed a fair.

"For years, he showed hogs, but not any more," she said. "We also showed Jersey cattle."

The Stacys farm near Old Fort, where they raised three children - Doris Herringshaw, Dennis and Doug. They have eight grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

She also can be found working at the food stand in the Youth Building.

"We've already put up our 4-H booth," she said.

Will it be the last one she helps with?

"Sure, until next year," she said. " You know how it goes. You can't just walk away.

"Yeah, I'll miss the kids," she said. "I'll probably still help neighbor kids (sew)."

And then there are the great-grandchildren, when they're old enough.