By Mike Orso
She helped milk cows twice a day, waitressed while studying for advanced degrees, taught school for more than two decades, raised five children and still found the time to represent McHenry County farm women on the McHenry County Farm Bureau’s board of directors. At 86, Audrey Davis recently decided to step aside from her board duties but has every intention of continuing her other volunteer service on behalf of the organization and agriculture.
“After the Women’s Committee started, I was teaching,” said Audrey. “I said, ‘I can’t come to the day meetings, but I can go to the board meetings at night and then write a report back.”
Audrey Davis has been doing that for two decades, in addition to volunteering for other McHenry County Farm Bureau (MCFB) activities, teaching special education, winding down her family’s time farming, substitute teaching, and caring for her five children, 12 grandchildren and 21 great grandchildren.
Born in Whitewater, Wis., Audrey Mathews came south with her family when her father had the opportunity to be a herdsman caring for dairy cattle on Clanyard Farms, one of several that raised animals located near Huntley where Del Webb Sun City is now located. That’s where she became really interested in dairy cows.
“We had this heifer that my dad wanted the owner of Clanyard to buy, and he didn’t want to buy it,” said Davis. “So, my dad bought it for my brother and I to show. We had grand champion in the junior division down at the state fair and at that time the International Dairy Show in Chicago. The owner of Clanyard Farms always kicked himself because he told my dad not to buy it.”
Audrey and her first husband, John Hardt, who met in the late 1950s while students at Huntley High School, began dairy farming on Moo Meadows, a prominent, large dairy farm once located across from what is now Northwestern Medicine Woodstock Hospital. They then moved to Huntley where John worked at the former Allis-Chalmers dealership, and then back to dairying on a farm near Elburn. In the late 1960s, they co-invested in a McHenry County farm with their family doctor, Dr. Helmuth Stahlecker, M.D., of Woodstock.
“He always wanted to do something in agriculture,” said Audrey. “So, we bought the farm together on Bunker Hill Rd.”
During this time, she also resumed her interest in completing a college degree to pursue teaching.
“She had five kids, was waitressing part-time and going to school,” said daughter Kathy Bennett. “It’s always kind of a bummer when you got to be the first to leave to go home to milk the cows, but that’s the way it was, and it was every day, morning and night.”
In the mid-1970s, Audrey completed her undergraduate degree in education from Judson University in Elgin.
“How can mom milk cows in the morning and go to school?” said son David Hardt, reflecting on his mother’s determination. “She actually bought a wig so she didn’t have to redo her hair to go to the restaurant. It was just amazing.”
In addition to dairy farming with her family, she began her career in teaching. She achieved a master’s degree in education from Northern Illinois University in 1991, teaching special education in District 300, which includes students from communities such as Algonquin, Carpentersville, Dundee, Lake in the Hills and Sleepy Hollow. She taught full-and-part-time until her early 80s.
“I always enjoy being with young people,” said Audrey. “When you see the expression on their faces, I enjoy seeing progress they make.”
All the while, she outlived two husbands. She continued her role on the county Farm Bureau board and, among other things, organized a Hardt-Davis family volunteer takeover of the MCFB kitchen at the McHenry County Fair. The family has worked the food booth on Saturdays over the last several years, typically one of the busiest days for food sales. Proceeds go to fund MCFB agriculture literacy activities in the county.
“I got the grandkids now,” said Audrey. “They scoop the ice cream and I don’t have to tell them what to do anymore.”
Audrey’s family fully expects her to continue in her day volunteer activities, when it’s safer and easier for her to travel.
“If I can do half of what she has done in her lifetime, in my lifetime, I would be very happy with myself,” said youngest daughter Denise Terisi. “She does it all. And she keeps going.”
Audrey Davis, left, still puts her teaching skills to good use helping to lead discussions with school children and visitors to MCFBs Ag Expo, held biennially at the McHenry County Fairgrounds. (Hardt-Davis family photo)
The Hardt-Davis family of volunteers worked the MCFB kitchen again this year at the McHenry County Fair. Audrey Davis, front left, with her daughter Kathy and son David, along with several grandchildren and great-grandchildren. (Photo by Dan Volkers)
Audrey Mathews showed dairy cattle, winning grand champion Holstein during junior competitions at the Illinois State Fair and the International Dairy Show. She helped her children and grandchildren participate too. “When my daughter showed cattle at the fair, without mom, it probably wasn’t possible,” said Audrey’s son David. (Hardt-Davis family photo)
Audrey Davis, 86, left, with her daughters Kathy Bennett, 65, and Denise Teresi, 60, and sons John Jr. (Jack), 66, and David Hardt, 64. Daughter Mary Stieg, 59, passed away as a result of Covid-19 in 2021. (Hardt-Davis Family photo)