In 99 years, she’s missed just one fair in Richwood
RICHWOOD, Ohio — When they call Martha McNamee a grand marshal, they aren’t kidding.
She’s a 99-year-old greatgreat grandmother who has been to 98 Richwood Independent Fairs. She especially remembers the event in 1936, when she and her future husband climbed a fence because they didn’t have any money for tickets.
“I climbed that barbedwire fence and didn’t have a bit of trouble — and we went right on, buddy, and we had a good time,” McNamee said.
By the next night, their finances had improved, so they entered the regular way.
McNamee will lead the traditional parade of antique farm machinery when she presides as grand marshal next Sunday at the fair in the Union County village of Richwood, about 50 miles northwest of Columbus.
I visited her last week in the home where she was born in 1917. She had a thimble on her finger and was sewing a potholder to add to a welcome basket that her church gives to community newcomers.
Nearby sat two sewing machines, which still see a lot of use.
“The neighbors are always bringing pants in,” grandson Scott said. “She patches all the holes in the neighborhood pants.”
Many of those neighbors are also relatives. Within a mile of the house live five McNamee families. They grow corn, beans and hay on 1,400 acres and also raise cattle and hogs.
Mrs. McNamee, whose parents told her that they took her to her first fair in a baby buggy in 1918, met her husband, John, in church when they were teenagers. The couple have one son, Charles. John, who served for decades on the Richwood fair board, died in 2002.
She has watched four generations of McNamee
children show animals at the fair. (A greatgreat grandson will continue the tradition this year). She won more than a few blue ribbons herself through the years — proving especially formidable in the canned-peaches competition.
“I like to can,” she said. “In fact, I canned five pints of peaches the other day, but I didn’t fix them so they could be shown at the fair.”
The only year that Mrs. McNamee missed a fair was 2002, when she fractured her femur in a fall in her garden. She was discharged from the hospital just before the fair opened, but her son insisted that she stay home and recover.
Still, her attendance record is remarkable.
Consider: Richwood is celebrating its 125th fair this year, and Martha McNamee has been to 78 percent of them.