Monday morning, Dec. 20,
showed 34 inches of snow
depth and a snow water
equivalent of 7.5 inches,
which is about 14% above
average. The seven-day
outlook is for 2-1/2 more
inches of snow water, which
is the more important mea-
surement for predicting
spring and summer water
supplies.
Emigrant Springs, at
3,800 feet, is southeast of
Pendleton and northwest of
La Grande. With 12 inches
of snowpack, including 6
inches of new snow, the site
is 52% below average with
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian, File
Vehicles traverse Interstate 84 on Friday, Dec. 10, 2021, near
Meacham. The National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center
reports Northeastern Oregon should expect a 50& to 60% chance for
above-average snowfall and a 50-60% chance of lower-than-average
temperatures due to the La Nina conditions.
in the next fi ve days.
The Milk Shakes site
DELIVERY
Continued from Page A1
The delivery will cap a
career during which Varney
has walked about 57,000
miles while doing his
10-mile route, the equivalent
of circling the Earth more
than twice.
The “globe trekking” has
not taken a toll on Varney —
he has called in sick about
as often as history buff s dis-
cover envelopes with old
postmarks from ghost towns
in Northeastern Oregon.
Varney estimates that he has
missed just fi ve days since
starting work as a letter car-
rier in 1998.
“I feel like we are a
team and I would be letting
the team down if I missed
work,” he said.
More than postal
customers
La Grande Postmaster
Kelly Carreiro said Varney
is remarkably dedicated.
“He’s a real workhorse. If
his name is on the schedule,
he will be at work,” he said.
Varney is a workhorse
who is as popular with his
customers as a Kentucky
Derby winner at Churchill
Downs. Carrero said Varney
is so well liked that many
times when people on his
route call La Grande’s post
offi ce to complain about
something, they make a
point, without being asked,
of emphasizing that Varney
is not linked to anything
they are complaining about.
“They really care about
him,” Carreiro said.
Varney has 850 homes
and businesses on his route.
“They are my extended
family,” he said.
It is a family the letter
carrier hands more than mail
to — he also off ers a hand of
assistance when possible.
For example, he has
changed light bulbs for
people facing physical chal-
lenges and provided encour-
aging words to those who
appear upset or lonely. He
also has helped people get
access to their food. Varney
recalled that once a woman
greeted him with a jar of
pickles. He mistakenly
thought it was a gift.
“Then, she said, ‘I’ve
been waiting for you all
day. Will you open this?’”
Varney said.
Alex Wittwer/The Observer
Dean Varney returns to his truck after delivering a package on
Second Street in La Grande on Tuesday, Dec. 21, 2021.
The letter carrier was
touched when a senior on his
route, who was moving to an
assisted care center, insisted
that he attend his going-
away party.
Varney said he is keenly
aware that mail carriers can
be the only people many
homebound individuals get
to communicate with.
“We are the one point of
contact some people have
during the day,” he said.
The mail carrier also
enjoys speaking with the
younger people on his route.
Varney noted that recently
an 18-year-old told Varney
he is the only postman he
remembers having.
“I told him, ‘I remember
when your mom and dad
brought you home from the
hospital,’” he said.
Military career
Varney joined the postal
service after a 12-year career
in the U.S. Army as a heli-
copter pilot. He was fi rst sta-
tioned in Fairbanks, Alaska,
where he made many
fl ights to rescue people
climbing 20,000-foot Mount
McKinley, the tallest moun-
tain in the United States.
He later was transferred
to the Middle East where
he fl ew a helicopter during
Operation Desert Storm,
when the United States
was part of a coalition that
pushed Iraqi forces out of
Kuwait. Varney never found
himself under enemy fi re but
he was threatened on fl ights
by shrapnel from exploding
SCUD missiles that fl ew at
his helicopter.
Varney, who saw some
of his friends killed during
Operation Desert Storm,
emerged from the military
unscathed, but with a strong
desire to establish roots in a
community, something that
attracted him to the postal
service.
“I had 12 addresses in
nine years while in the mil-
itary. This job gives me an
opportunity to go back to
the same home every night,”
he said.
Varney said serving as
an Army helicopter pilot has
few similarities to working
as a mail carrier.
“They both have cerebral
challenges but other than
that they are worlds apart,”
he said.
Some told Varney that
working as a mail carrier
would be stressful, How-
ever, he said that the ten-
sion he experienced as a
military helicopter pilot,
where he sometimes fl ew
at treetop level in the dark
while wearing night vision
goggles, was far greater than
what he has experienced as a
letter carrier.
“I’m not feeling the
stress,” he said.
A rough beginning
Varney has delivered
mail on his route — named
City Route 4 — for 12 years.
Prior to taking over the route
from Lyle Jensen, who is
now retired and still lives in
La Grande, Varney was a
substitute carrier, fi lling in
for all of La Grande’s fi ve
city routes. The position
was particularly challenging
because Varney often found
himself doing routes he was
unfamiliar with.
“That was much more
diffi cult than what I’m doing
now,” he said.
The world is a diff erent
place than it was when
Varney fi rst started as a
letter carrier, and the items
delivered by postal workers
refl ects this. He said that,
when he started, only 20-30
of his deliveries were pack-
on the Oregon/Washington
border east of Walla Walla
ages each day. Those days
are gone forever.
“Today that number is
unheard of,” he said.
Varney said on average
he delivers four times the
number of parcels he fi rst did
— and during the Christmas
season, he delivers well over
200 parcels a day. He also
said the number of packages
he delivers has jumped since
the COVID-19 pandemic
started.
“The pandemic put online
shopping into a whole new
gear,” he said.
The huge increase in
packages is making the job
of mail carriers more chal-
lenging because their trucks
are not big enough for a
large quantity of parcels.
Carriers often have to make
return trips to the post offi ce
to pick up packages while
doing their routes. It also
means that it takes longer to
load trucks because pack-
ages must be packed in a
precise manner to make effi -
cient use of space. Varney
said he has enormous
respect for the profession-
alism and dedication La
Grande’s mail carriers have
shown in dealing with the
issue.
“We have an amazing
staff ,” he said.
A ‘bittersweet’ day
Varney said he picked
Christmas Eve as his last
day for two reasons.
“I didn’t want to leave at
the peak of the season, and
I wanted to give myself a
Christmas present,” he said.
Varney is looking for-
ward to spending more time
with his family, including
his wife, Michelle, and
daughters, Shylinn and
Emily. Varney noted that
Shylinn and her husband,
Michael Baty, are expecting
their fi rst child in January. It
is Varney’s fi rst grandchild.
Varney, who lives in
Imbler, is also looking for-
ward to operating a small
hobby farm and traveling
with his wife. Despite what
he has to look forward to,
he knows that he will feel
a wide range of feelings on
Christmas Eve.
“It will be bittersweet. I
am leaving my team, part-
ners and an old neighbor-
hood,” he said, “but I will
be starting a new chapter of
my life, which I am excited
about.”
has 42 inches of snow-
pack with 24% snow/
water equivalent. This is
10% above average, and 18
inches are predicted to fall
in the next fi ve days.
On the Union County
side of the Wallowa Moun-
tains just up the hill from
Cove, Moss Springs, at
5,760 feet, has recorded
25 inches of snowpack
with 6.6 inches of snow
water equivalent — 93% of
normal for this time of year.
Eleven inches of new snow
is predicted to fall in the
next fi ve days.
In Wallowa County,
Mount Howard, at 7,900
feet, has 20 inches of snow
with 4.6 inches of snow
water equivalent, putting it
at 75% of normal. Just over
the ridge at Aneroid Lake,
7,400 feet, conditions are
drier. The site has recorded
a snow water content of 4.1
inches, which is 58% of
average. The next fi ve days
should see 22 inches of new
snowfall.
Across Eastern Oregon,
watersheds are still
reporting lower-than-av-
erage numbers for snow-
pack. The Grande Ronde-
Burnt Powder-Imnaha
Basin is at 96%, the Mal-
heur Basin is at 94%, John
Day Basin is recording
90%, and Harney Basin is
at 91%, while the highest
for the region, the Umatil-
la-Walla Walla Basin, is
at 100%.
HOSPITAL
Continued from Page A1
Having worked in the
medical fi eld since 1987,
she stated that hospital
employees understand the
spectrum of reasons why
patients might be in the
hospital on Christmas Day
— from mothers in labor
to emergency situations.
“We’re here as a team
to help these guys and
help relieve some of their
stress the best that we can
and hopefully get them
back home to their fami-
lies,” Schatzlein said.
In the laundry services
department, holiday work
schedules are planned
ahead of time. However,
employees work together
to make the best of the sit-
uation for each other. Kim
Clark, a laundry services
employee who has been
at Grande Ronde Hospital
for 12 years, volunteered
this year to take the shift
of someone who worked
last Christmas.
“We try to give the
people with small kids
time to spend with their
children,” Clark said.
“Everybody is willing to
work with each other in
that respect.”
Robin Talley, a phle-
botomist in the hospital
lab, volunteered to work
on the holiday for the fi rst
time in her four years at
the hospital so another
employee could enjoy the
holidays during her child’s
fi rst Christmas.
“I thought that since I
don’t have kids, I’d pick
up the shift and work,”
Talley said.
According to Talley,
employees who work
together on holidays bond
over the shared experi-
ence — she referred to
this year’s group as “the
dream team.”
Every department
at the hospital diff ers,
as some work on call
throughout the holi-
days. This is the case for
Fritz Flowers, a biomed-
ical technician who has
worked at Grande Ronde
Hospital for fi ve years.
“We all take turns and
rotate,” Flowers said of
the technical services
department. “On holidays
we usually have a reduced
staff , but we still have to
be prepared for every-
thing, just like any other
day.”
Biomedical tech-
nicians provide pre-
ventative maintenance
on all hospital equip-
ment throughout the
building and at the hos-
pital’s clinics. The staff
rotates who is on call
every weekend and hol-
iday throughout the year,
which Flowers says is
part of a bigger, collective
cause.
“We’re all here for the
same reason, it doesn’t
matter what department,”
he said.
Flowers noted that
working on holidays
and providing the same
quality service day in and
day out is an essential part
of working in a hospital.
“Everybody has the
same end goal,” Flowers
said. “We have some great
people here and amazing
community support.”
For hospital workers
across the country, the
pandemic has created
unprecedented times.
After a long year, the tire-
less eff orts of those at
Grande Ronde Hospital
persist into the end of
2021 with bright hopes
for 2022.
“People get sick and
you can’t predict that, so
we all have to be here to
help them medically and
to make sure that they
can get the best treat-
ment possible,” Schatzlein
said. “We all understand
that, the ones who have to
work. It’s part of our job
and it’s part of our focus.”
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Continued from Page A1
1.8 inches of snow water
equivalent. The fi ve-day
forecast predicts another 7
inches will fall.
Bowman Springs, at
4,530 feet, is west of La
Grande. Snowpack is 10
inches and 100% of the
average. The site is fore-
casted to receive 6 more
inches in the next fi ve days.
Lucky Strike, at 4,970
feet and south of Pilot
Rock, has a snowpack of
7 inches, which is 72% of
normal. Six inches are pre-
dicted to fall in the next fi ve
days.
Spout Springs Ski Area
sits at 5,000 feet west of
Elgin and has a snow-
pack of 31 inches. Eighteen
inches are forecasted to fall
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