Miriam Robeson Miriam E. Robeson and Jeffrey A. Shanks were inducted into the Carroll County Agriculture Hall of Fame Monday night.

The 2009 honorees were announced at the Carroll County Agriculture Association annual meeting and banquet at the 4-H Building in Flora.

Profiles of the two inductees follow.

Miriam E. Robeson

Robeson has lived in Carroll County nearly all her life. She graduated from Delphi Community High School, Purdue University and Indiana University School of Law in Indianapolis before eventually returning to Carroll County to open her own law office.

She is active in Flora First Christian Church, where she presently serves as president of the board of directors and assistant choir director. She is also active in several community organizations, including Flora Community Club board member and treasurer, and its KICK (Keeping Involved in Community and Kids) team, the Carroll County Economic Development Corporation board of directors, Flora Psi Iota Xi, and Book Readers & Horn Blowers. Robeson is also serving on the Carroll County Zoning Steering Committee to help revise the Carroll County zoning ordinances.

Jeffrey Shanks An attorney for 20 years, Robeson's law practice focuses on agriculture, nonprofit, and school law. She is the attorney for the Carroll Consolidated School Corporation School Board and the Carroll County Agriculture Association, as well as legal advisor to local farmers, small businesses and nonprofit organizations. She regularly presents seminars on nonprofit governance through the Indiana Nonprofit Resource Network.

Robeson has received the Extra Mile Award from the Flora Community Club, the Carroll County Pro Bono Attorney of the Year award, a recognition award from the Carroll County Pork Producers, and was a recipient of the Beyond the Fence Award at the 2007 Indiana Livestock Forum.

Robeson's family has been farming in Carroll County since the 1800s. Her father, Maurice Robeson, and her uncle, the late Charles Yeager, were both inducted into the Ag Hall of Fame. Her father, grandfather, LeRoy Robeson Jr., and uncle, Carl Robeson, still farm in Carroll County. Although she said she hasn't been on a tractor in years, she helps the family farm with planning, administrative, and government paperwork.

In her spare time, Robeson enjoys gardening, biking, hiking, guitar, and piano.

She is married to David Pickens, who is a system engineer for Sun Microsystems.

They have three children, Samantha, Benjamin, and Caitlin, who attend Carroll Jr.-Sr. High School.

Jeffrey A. Shanks

Shanks resides in Democrat Township. He grew up east of Camden on the family farm, with three brothers and one sister, and graduated from Delphi Community High School in 1969. He graduated from Nashville Auto-Diesel College in 1970. He started part time at Jackson Lee-Pearson in Flora in 1968, and then began working full time there in 1970.

He and his wife, Roberta, were married in 1981.

Shanks raced go-karts in the mid-west during the 1970s and competed in Indiana Ski Council recreational racing in the 1980s.

He also participated in three short-term mission trips, to Canada, Oklahoma and Grenada.

He enjoys bicycling, snow skiing, snowboarding, in line skating, working with audio and video projects on the computer, and tractor pulling.

Awards received include three State and one Division 3 karting championships, one Indiana Ski Council recreational racing championship, and the following John Deere awards: Super Service, Service Master, Service Advisor User Group, and a Baltic Sea Tour cruise.

He has been involved in the following activities: 4-H leader, Lions Club member, Lafayette Ski Club member and officer, member of Professional Ski Instructors Association, International Karting Federation, and World Karting Federation.

Shanks currently participates with the Flora Community Choir, is a past and current trustee for Mid-North Indiana Youth for Christ, and is a volunteer faculty member for Hanging Rock Christian Assembly Mountain Bike Adventure Camp. He is a member of the Faith Church of Christ in Burlington.