30
Wednesday, March 29, 2017 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
GALLAGHER:
Sisters woman
was 95 years old
Continued from page 1
the youngest child in a family
of four children born to Ellis
and Ellen Edgington.
Georgia’s father, Ellis, was
born in 1884 and grew up in
Wasco County (Maupin/Tygh
Valley area.) In 1910 the lure
of farming in the Sisters area
motivated Ellis and his cousin
to “partner-up” and purchase
the land that would become
the Edgington Ranch.
Ellis Edgington met Ellen
Crawford about 1912, most
likely at one of the “Elocution
Club” gatherings that took
place at the Plainview school.
Elocution Clubs were popular
at the time, community gath-
erings where poems and writ-
ings would be learned and
recited.
Ellen was teaching in the
Plainview School when she
met Ellis.
“In those days teachers
were not supposed to get
married, if you did you had
to quit,” said Georgia. So
after “courting” for awhile
Ellen Crawford became Ellen
Edgington in 1914.
Throughout the 1920s and
into the Depression Era the
Edgingtons ran cattle and
dairy cows on their property,
selling cream to a dairy in
Redmond.
“We rode horses to school,
doubled-up with me behind
my sister and my two broth-
ers together. I’d hold tight
around my sister’s waist
when she rode faster but, one
time, she didn’t tell me she
was going to speed up and I
fell off right in the middle of
the road!” recalled Georgia.
The family was active
with the Presbyterian Church
which was located where the
Sisters Christian Church is
Car wash
will benefit
Sisters
FAN
The contestants for the
Mr. SHS pageant are holding
a carwash on Saturday, April
8, as a fundraiser for Sisters
Family Access Network
(FAN).
Contestants and their part-
ners will be washing cars
from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the
Melvin’s Fir Street Market
parking lot.
Donations are welcome
and all the proceeds go to
FAN.
today (now The Belfry). Ellis
Edgington was also active
with the Civic Club and a
member of the Sisters Rodeo
Association, helping to orga-
nize the rodeo when it was
held at the site where Hoyt’s
Hardware sits today.
“Mom objected to Dad
working on the rodeo so
much. She felt he should have
been home working on the
farm,” said Georgia.
Georgia graduated from
Sisters High School in 1939.
The school was located at the
site of the present-day City
Hall and Library. She went
on to college at Oregon State
University to study Foods &
Nutrition, graduating with
her degree in 1944. Returning
to Sisters, she was named
Sisters Rodeo Queen in 1944.
During her senior year at
OSU, Georgia met a man in
Corvallis, Vince Gallagher,
an enlisted Army man also
studying at OSU. Sparks flew,
but they were not destined
to be together in the short
term. Vince had overseas war
duty and Georgia still had an
internship to serve as part of
her education.
In 1945 Georgia took
the train from The Dalles
to Chicago for a year ’s
“Dietician Internship” at
the Michael Reese General
Hospital on the south side of
Chicago. The entire experi-
ence was eye-opening for a
young woman from Sisters.
“The hospital was basi-
cally located in a slum at the
time. I had never experienced
city life like that. We worked
hard, cooked meals, cleaned,
etc., because it was wartime
and it was hard to get help in
the hospitals,” said Georgia.
After the war, Vince and
Georgia’s relationship blos-
somed and they married in
June of 1946. A native of
Bayonne, New Jersey, Vince
PHOTO BY KAREN KASSY
Georgia Gallagher at her childhood home south of Sisters.
had a good job waiting for
him with the General Cable
Corporation as an indus-
trial engineer, so the couple
decided to move back to New
Jersey. They stayed a year in
the state before Vince heeded
the advice of a relative:
“You’d better take that girl
back home.”
In 1947 they relocated to
Redmond for six years, then
to Salem for 22 years, where
Vince found a job with the
highway department and
Georgia worked at three dif-
ferent state institutions. The
Gallagher family grew to five
with a girl, Nora, and two
sons, Dennis and Vince. All
three still live in Oregon.
By the mid-1970s Ellis
and Ellen Edgington decided
to move into Sisters, purchas-
ing a home right next to the
Village Green. Vince passed
away in 1981 and Georgia still
lives in the house to this day.
G e o rg i a s e r v e d t h e
Sisters community as an
EMT (Emergency Medical
Technician) from 1981-2000
and (as of 2008 was) still a
member of the Sisters Garden
A Partnership
Beyond Your
Expectations
Club, helping to beautify the
various gardens and gazebos
around the city. In 2006 she
was named Grand Marshall
of the Sisters Rodeo, a tribute
to her contributions and heri-
tage in Sisters Country.
Georgia received another
honor when she was named
the Deschutes County
Pioneer Queen for 2008
by the Deschutes Pioneer
Association, a group of
approximately 900 people
who’ve lived in the county
for over 40 years. The associ-
ation researches the heritage
of prospective queens very
thoroughly before naming
one each year.
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