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Community Spotlight
community spotlight: Robin Beekman
BY LINDA FEAGLER
As owner of Robin’s Nest Flowers & Gifts in Jeffersonville, Robin Beekman guides her customers through life’s peaks and valleys, from celebrating joyous occasions with the perfect petals to commemorating a final goodbye with a distinctive funeral arrangement.
But farming is clearly the Fayette County resident’s passion. She and her husband, Gary, farm 1,500 acres of beans and corn at their Bloomingburg homestead. As a child, she helped her father Charles Cunningham in his work at the Dr. Heinz Company feed mill.
“Farmers raise the food to feed America,” she says, “and we’re proud of it.”
Beekman’s dedication to farming and the initiatives she’s involved with have not gone unnoticed. In 2020, she became the first woman inducted into the Fayette County Agricultural Hall of Fame.
Launched in 2001, the Ag Hall of Fame recognizes and honors those who have made outstanding contributions to farming or an agriculturally related field.
Beekman’s talents encompass a variety of endeavors. She’s served as a member of the Fayette County Farm Bureau’s board of directors; has conducted leadership and training meetings with local and state farm bureau organizations; and can be found lending a hand serving cookies and apple cider during harvest time. Beekman is also a proud recipient of the organization’s 35-year service award.
At Jeffersonville United Methodist Church, she serves on the mission committee and collects school supplies for area children.
“Robin is very selfless in everything she does,”
Robin’s Nest Flowers & Gifts
Robin is very selfless in everything she does.
says Ken Ford, agricultural educator for the Ohio State University Extension in Fayette County. “She loves the county, would do anything that would benefit agriculture here and has never wavered in her devotion to the Farm Bureau. To own her own business and be involved in as many activities as she is, is a tremendous accomplishment.”
“Sometimes,” he adds with a smile, “I wonder when she has time to sleep.”
