HONESDALE, PA — For over 20 years, the Wayne County Historical Society (WCHS)  has honored a local farmer on the first day of the Wayne County Fair with the WCHS Ag Award. This year, Bonnie and Mark LaTourette of Torrey will be the award recipients. 

The ceremony will take place at 6 p.m. on Friday, August 2, at the Farm Museum at the fairgrounds. All those who have paid to enter the fairgrounds are invited to attend the celebration. 

Both Mark and Bonnie have spent their lives in agriculture. Bonnie LaTourette was raised on a dairy farm in Wayne County and graduated from Canaan Christian Academy. She was already familiar with farming, because she worked on her family’s farm and raised several cows during her high school years. 

After high school, she married Mark LaTourette, who was also raised on a Wayne County dairy farm, and they combined their animals to begin a dairy herd on Mark’s newly acquired farm in Oregon Township. 

Since that beginning, Bonnie and Mark have continued farming their entire adult lives. They own their farm in Torrey, where they raise beef to sell directly to customers. This requires that they have their meat processed by a USDA Certified Butcher so they can sell directly from their freezers. They also do the regular farm chores: put in crops in the spring, and harvest the hay and corn during the summer and early fall. They are busy Wayne County farmers.

The LaTourettes started with a dairy herd, and then transitioned to beef cows years later. They currently also board animals for other farmers. 

They concentrate on having a happy family life on the farm where they raised four children—two boys and two girls. They now have seven grandchildren and are wonderful grandparents. 

Bonnie is an active member of her church and puts aside some time for her church and her beliefs every day. She worked at part-time jobs in addition to raising her family and working the farm, and for many years, she has been a school bus driver too. She loves children and enjoys having them help with farm chores and household chores.  

Mark has also worked at many jobs in addition to his farm work, , including being a school bus driver—which he still does—and knows agriculture and farming very well. In addition to the important work on their farm, Bonnie and Mark have had a total of 63 foster children in their home. They now turn their attention to their seven grandchildren, but they did have a meaningful impact on the lives of many foster children for many years. 

Bonnie was recently elected president of the Wayne/Pike Farm Bureau, and is a leader with that group. She was named the “Pennsylvania Outstanding Woman in Agriculture” in January 2024 by the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau’s Women’s Leadership Committee.  She was excited to receive this state-wide award and enjoys her work with the farm bureau. 

She says, “I love what we are doing. We are very happy raising the beef that we raise, and boarding cattle for other farmers.” 

Bonnie has developed a program emphasizing farm safety, which is a special interest in Bonnie’s life. To that end, she has created a tabletop display of a working farm, with toy farm machines, miniature farm buildings and miniature farm hazards that viewers are challenged to find. Bonnie also travels to agricultural events, presenting brochures and engaging those attending to think about farm safety by using her display. 

Accidents on farms can be prevented if the farmers get this type of information. 

Congratulations to Bonnie and Mark LaTourette for their successful years in Wayne County agriculture, and for their outstanding leadership and especially their work with children. The Wayne County Historical Society is proud to present the 2024 Ag Award to this farming couple.