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be maintained.
A plan of this kind was not established until almost 100 years later when, in 1891, the Weather Bureau was charged with the task of "taking such meteorological observations as may be necessary to establish and record the climatic conditions of the United States." In compliance with these directions, the Weather Bureau relied heavily, as it does to this day, on voluntary Cooperative Observers.
Our present day Cooperative Observers record and transmit their weather observations in much the same spirit as our early pioneers. Ed Stoll, a Nebraska farmer, was 19 years old when he began taking weather observations. He was still recording weather observations 76 years later. Stoll was invited to the White House by President Carter and chatted with the President in the Oval Office. The NWS named the Cooperative Observer Award for 50 years of service after Stoll.
Ruby Stufft, another Nebraskan, became the first woman to complete 70 years of government service as a volunteer observer. She was the first recipient of a 70-year service award named in her honor. Ruby's husband volunteered to take over the duties of the weather observer for Elsmere, Nebraska, in 1920, but after a few weeks decided it was not for him. His teenage wife volunteered and continued to be the Elsmere observer well into her nineties.
Cooperative Weather Observers come from all walks of life; they may be farmers, ranchers, lawyers, storekeepers, min
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