Allen Elmo Strain

Executive Secretary for the Mississippi Association of the Future Farmers of America, 1940-1957.

By James A. Strain

As the Executive Secretary for the FFA, my grandfather, Allen E. Strain, was responsible for traveling throughout the state to help educate and promote Vocational Agricultural Education.  He assisted the preparation of annual reports to the Mississippi State Legislature on Vocational Education, and from what I can tell, reported directly to A. P. Fatherree.  He and Fatherree were in the same graduating class at Mississippi State University, both obtaining Bachelor of Science degrees in Agriculture in 1926.

A. E. Strain was responsible for a large growth in membership of the FFA, the establishment of camps at Long Beach and Grenada, MS, and assisted in many state and national conventions as a judge.  He was very proud of the efforts of this organization in support of WW II, which raised tons of scrap iron, rubber, and other materials to aid the war effort.

Detailed diaries of his travels, meetings with teachers, students, and administrators, as well as several financial legers from his time as Executive Secretary survive and help to document his activities.  In time, perhaps these can be transcribed and made available online.  Included in these financial legers are the names of all the people or chapters that paid to stay at the Long Beach Camp during the first few years it operated.

Upon retirement, A. E. Strain was presented with a framed portrait of himself by the FFA at a formal ceremony thanking him for his service.  In addition, the Mississippi State Legislature created a special position for him in Agricultural Research.

You can read the actual newspaper reports and see the newsletter from the FFA which honors him by clicking below.  The cover to the program for the ceremony is above.

Appointment to Special Position in Agricultural Education

First Page of Newsletter honoring A. E. Strain's contributions to the FFA (large file) This also contains information about his successor, A. G. Shepherd, Jr.  Ironically, the Camp at Long Beach is not named for my grandfather, who helped establish not only this one, but two other camps, but for A. G. Shepherd, his successor.

Picture of Fatherree presenting portrait to A. E. Strain