In most of life's experiences, there is a beginning and an end. Sometimes, though, life brings us around full circle. As chairman of the Indiana Senate Energy and Economic Development Committee, I work closely with representatives of Indiana's REMCs/RECs. But my understanding of consumer-owned electric cooperatives and how the Rural Electrification Administration started in our country began years before I was elected to the Senate or even made Indiana my home. It was born of direct experience from my grandfather, William W. Weatherwax (1873-1963), and his promotion of rural electrification on our Iowa farm.

Grandfather and his brothers traveled throughout all of the United States and Canada from 1901 through 1920 as the Weatherwax Brothers' Quartet. These singing brothers, famous for the song, "The Little Brown Church," performed at chautauquas, lyceums, churches, dinners and other events, including those for our troops. They traveled well over 250,000 miles, and their picture still is in the vestibule of the Little Brown Church in Nashua, Iowa, where they were born.

Grandfather also traveled with Hoosier poet James Whitcomb Riley. They wrote many poems and letters back and forth. A picture of him and his brothers with Riley on Riley's porch in Indianapolis' Lockerbie Square hangs at my desk at the state capitol.

Long after the brothers dissolved the group, Grandfather was well known still and was a natural choice to help incorporate the electric cooperative where he lived in eastern Iowa. He was hired part time to survey and perform land acquisition and easements to allow the poles and lines on farmers' land and later became a director. Convincing farmers electricity was something they should have was no small task, as many were skeptical of what electricity was and how it could help them. Grandfather was also required to travel to Washington, D.C., regularly to the REA headquarters to coordinate national and state policy.

Mother says rural families would sit around the table and stare at their first light bulb in wonder, once they got electricity in their homes for the first time. We received electricity to our farm in Iowa around 1935.
Because of his fame and position as a cooperative director, Grandfather was called upon during World War II to promote the REA's National Defense program called "Food for Freedom."

The program promoted electricity to increase farm efficiency, feeding more troops with fewer people. The program pointed out that young children could milk more cows with electric milk machines than two men could by hand, and that more pigs per litter could be saved by using light and reflecting heating units in farrowing houses.

From my grandfather's Jan. 10, 1942 radio script, it was stated: "REA was not a ‘fly by night' idea. Men of outstanding ability, courage and foresight had been thinking on the subject years and years before REA came into being. Many organizations associated themselves together in the hope that a practical and economical plan could be inaugurated."

This planning goes back to early 1920. Another quote from this script: "President Roosevelt sensed this vital throbbing movement and on May 11th, 1935, issued an executive order setting up the machinery for the creation of the Rural Electrification Administration. On May 20th, 1936, a bill was passed extending the life of REA for 10 years."

The co-authors of the original REA bill were Sen. George W. Norris and Sen. Sam Rayburn. Grandfather and his brothers traveled with Sen. Norris one entire chautauqua season, and Grandfather considered him one of his most valued friends. "Mr. Norris is worthy of every confidence as millions in America will attest," he said during the radio program.

Grandfather told of many obstacles and much opposition in the beginning. The REA could not have done it alone. He gave credit to the newly-formed REA cooperatives throughout this great country and the enthusiastic farmers whose ideas helped energize the nation.

So, I have come full circle today. The success of today's electric cooperatives is still due to the support of their enthusiastic consumer-members. Thanks to you, Indiana's electric cooperatives and co-ops everywhere, the visions and goals my Grandfather believed in for so many years have been maintained and built upon.

As the author of this past session's Clean Coal Technology legislation, Senate Bill 29, I believe the future of our Indiana electric cooperatives has never looked brighter.

Sen. Thomas K. Weatherwax (R-Logansport) serves District 18 which includes all or parts of Carroll, Cass, Fulton, Kosciusko, Marshall, Miami and Pulaski counties in northcentral Indiana.