Mina Flint

1899-1976

Mina Flint was a familiar face to visitors at both the Davis County and Utah State Fairs. In 1931, she entered a display of aster flowers she had grown and because the fair board was having trouble getting this section of the fair organized, they asked Mina if she could assist with the fair’s flower exhibit that year. This encounter started an association with the county fair that lasted for over twenty years. For several years Mina managed the fair’s flower and craft displays and then in 1940, she was asked to join the fair board and accept responsibility for what was then called the “Woman’s Section” which included flowers, sewing, canning, vegetable growing, 4-H Club activities, and craft entries. She was so good at organizing these county exhibits that she was asked to work her magic for the Utah State Fair. Mina served on the Utah State Fair Board for seven years.

Jemima “Mina” Webster was born in Kaysville on March 23, 1899, the daughter of second-generation pioneers John A. and Fannie Barnes Webster. She grew up on her father’s farm on Flint Street and attended local schools. She graduated from Davis County High School and then attended both the University of Utah and USAC. She served an LDS mission to California from 1918 to 1920 and was involved in many of the primary and young adult activities of the Kaysville LDS Ward.

Mina married Chester C. Flint on December 20, 1920. They established a home on Chester’s family farm on Flint Street, 454 North Flint, and were the parents of six children-Jane, a twin sister who died at birth, Helen, Vernon, Barbara, and Catherine.

Probably Mina’s greatest contribution to the youth of Kaysville and Davis County was her passionate involvement with 4-H Clubs. 4-H Clubs were introduced to Kaysville in the 1920s and Mina became acquainted with them through her work with the county fairs. In 1940, she founded the Busy Bees 4-H Club. This group of young ladies was interested in what was then called “domestic arts,” and food canning and preservation were the principal emphases of the Busy Bees’ activities. Through the national 4-H Club organization, Mina partnered with the Kerr Corporation, and each year Kaysville 4-H Club members under her leadership entered a national Kerr-sponsored food canning competition that awarded both cash and merchandise prizes. Over the years, many of Mina’s club members won coveted Kerr prizes.

The success of the Busy Bees prompted the organization of other 4-H Clubs like the Seven Dainty Maids. New units focused on sewing, canning, crafts, animal husbandry, and gardening. Between 1940 and 1970, hundreds of Kaysville girls were introduced to 4-H Club work because of Mina’s encouragement. Mina was a 4-H Club leader and mentor for thirty-five years.

From 1946 to 1949, Mina was president of the Davis County Company of the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers. It was during Mina’s presidency that the Davis County history book “East of Antelope Island” was published. Under Mina’s direction, hundreds of personal and public histories were gathered from county DUP camps to be featured in this book, and today individuals interested in family history can obtain access to these histories at the DUP headquarters in Salt Lake City.

In other civic contributions, Mina was a member of the Lantern Club, the Kaysville Art Club, and the AAUW. Each of these organizations played an important role in Kaysville’s civic improvement. Just a year before she p[assed away, Mina was recognized by Kaysville City for her outstanding volunteer work at the LeConte Stewart Art Gallery. Mina was also a second-grade teacher at the Farmington and H.C Burton elementary schools. She taught school for twenty years.

Mina Webster Flint passed away on June 21, 1976, of a heart ailment at the age of seventy-five. Interment was in the Kaysville City Cemetery.

Sources

  • “Kaysville Ladies of Note – Mina Flint”, Our Kaysville Story Facebook post by Bill Sanders, September 26, 2021.
  • Photos courtesy of: FamilySearch, Heritage Museum of Layton, The Weekly Reflex.