FROM PAGE ONE
SATURDAY, JULY 23, 2022
THE OBSERVER — A7
SCHOOL
FIRE
Continued from Page A1
Continued from Page A1
Lance Dixon.
“It will be used for pro-
fessional development,”
Dixon said.
The money will go
toward helping staff mem-
bers who want to become
teachers pay for the col-
lege credits they need and
compensating mentors
assisting new teachers.
Dixon noted that new
teachers often have many
questions about how to do
things but may be reluctant
to ask them because they
don’t want to bother their
colleagues. Dixon said that
when a teacher who is paid
extra to also be a mentor
is available, new educators
will feel more comfortable
going to such a teacher for
advice.
The North Powder
superintendent said he
would not want the HB
4030 funding to be spent
on things like signing
bonuses for new teachers
or other recruiting incen-
tives. He said this would
not be fair to educators
who have worked at the
school district for many
years.
The Cove School Dis-
trict will also be using
the state funding to boost
retention — with a twist.
Two elliptical exercise
machines for staff mem-
bers will be purchased
with some of the money.
both sides of the Grande
Ronde River and blanketed
the county with smoke,
although no lives were lost.
Weseman said at its
peak, approximately 1,100
personnel were involved in
fi ghting the Elbow Creek
Fire, “which included a
variety of resources such
as overhead assigned to
the incident management
team, ground support and
fi refi ghters.”
An incident command
site was at the Wallowa
schools, where fi re offi cials
met to plan their assault on
the wildfi re and fi refi ghters
camped in tents on the
school grounds.
Weseman placed the
fi nal cost to suppress the
fi re at $22.8 million.
Dick Mason/The Observer, File
Cove School District teacher Erich Dressen helps Angel Shields-
Marrs with a project on March 10, 2020. The Cove School District in
2022 plans to use funding from House Bill 4030 to boost retention
of its staff , including purchasing a pair of elliptical exercise
machines for staff members to use and paying for teachers’ tuition
for college courses needed to earn endorsements that will qualify
them to teach a wider range of subjects, according to the district’s
superintendent, Earl Pettit.
The exercise machines
are meant to provide the
opportunity for staff mem-
bers who want to work
out on such devices but
may not be able to get into
La Grande enough to use
them in its exercise gyms,
said Cove Superintendent
Earl Pettit.
The HB 4030 funding
will also be used to help
Cove staff members pay
tuition for college courses
needed to earn endorse-
ments that will qualify
them to teach a wider
range of subjects, Pettit
said.
The Imbler School Dis-
trict will be receiving
$48,000 in HB 4030 funds,
and fi rst-year Superin-
tendent Randy Waite said
the money will be used to
help maintain its strong
retention rate. He said his
school district is fortunate
to have a staff fi lled with
members who want to stay.
“We are lucky in this
way,” Waite said.
Origin
The big questions are
still about the fi re’s origin.
“The goal is to answer
the fi ve W’s (who, what,
where, when, why and
how),” Weseman said. “The
order changes in fi re inves-
tigation to when, where
(origin), how (cause), why
(is there intent or mali-
ciousness), who (subjects or
suspects).”
As for its origin, at the
time of the fi re it was spec-
ulated that it could have
been caused by a hot spot
remaining from lightning
strikes a week earlier or
from rafters camping along
the Grande Ronde River.
But that remains under
investigation.
She said there is no esti-
mated timeline for com-
pleting the investigation.
“Fire investigation entails
determining the origin area,
protecting and collecting
evidence, photo documenta-
tion, acquiring witness state-
ments and more to deter-
mine the possible cause(s) of
a fi re,” Weseman said. “The
primary goals in wildland
fi re investigations are to pre-
serve the scene, determine
the origin, determine the
cause, determine potential
responsible parties, protect
evidence and to preserve the
interests of all parties as far
as possible. Every wildland
fi re investigation is unique.
Timeliness of completion of
an investigation (depends) on
a variety of factors such as
location, accessibility, evi-
dence analysis and resources
available.”
There also is a level of
confi dentiality investigators
maintain during an active
investigation “to not jeopar-
dize the outcome,” she said.
Nature or humans?
That doesn’t appear to be
so necessary when a fi re is
obviously lightning caused.
The recent Marr Creek Fire,
which burned 10 acres east
of Joseph earlier this month,
was quickly attributed to
lightning.
Last year’s Bootleg
Fire in Southern Oregon,
GOSS
time within the next year, and
is starting to show his daughter,
McAndie, and her husband, Kyle,
the ropes.
Continued from Page A1
one-stop-shop capabilities. “We
intend for that to stay the same.”
Since the business took root
in Union County 100 years ago,
Goss Motors has remained a
family endeavor. And it has no
plans of stopping.
Moving forward
A solid foundation
Milo Jasper Goss III, the com-
pany’s founder, was born on Jan.
7, 1888, in Prairieville, Mich-
igan. In his late teens, he moved
to Fruitland, Idaho, to work as a
farm laborer. By January 1917,
Goss had arrived in La Grande
and found work as a clerk for a
La Grande grocer named C. L.
Thorne. He met his future wife,
Ada Frances Colt, and the couple
married in 1918.
Goss began working for auto
garages in La Grande. During
his employment at Inland Motor
Co. between 1920 and 1921, he
became so successful at selling
Studebakers that he earned the
name “Studebaker Goss.”
Goss bought out the Stude-
baker agency in La Grande
around December 1922. He estab-
lished M.J. Goss Motor Co. at
1115 Washington Ave., and The
Observer printed announcements
of the takeover in February 1923
— titled “Auto Agency Changes
Hands.”
The couple had four children
in the 1920s — Milodene, Milo
Jasper “Bill” Jr., Robert Dale
“Bob” and Kenton “Ken.” As
the Goss family grew, so did the
business.
In 1923, Goss relocated the
business to the corner of Fir Street
and Adams Avenue. He soon
branched out from selling Stude-
bakers, adding Plymouths, Olds-
mobiles and DeSotos to the inven-
tory. Unable to staff the garage
during World War I, Goss briefl y
closed the business.
Upon reopening, the dealership
moved in 1932 to its present loca-
tion at 1415 Adams Ave. Bill and
Bob served in World War II. After
the war, all three sons became
partners in the family business.
Bill married Donna Knight
after returning from the war.
The couple had four children —
Garnet, Mark, Susie and Milo. In
the 1940s, the dealership began
selling Chevrolets. A decade
later, they fi nally phased out the
Studebaker.
Bill and Ken would continue to
work at Goss Motors throughout
their lives; Bob later moved on to
another local dealership, Gateway
Motors. Their father passed away
in Portland in May 1963 and was
buried in Union County’s Sum-
merville Cemetery.
Outside of his role as “Stude-
baker Goss,” the elder Goss also
left his philanthropic mark on La
Grande. He was one of the early
contributors to the Grande Ronde
Symphony Orchestra after its for-
mation in 1951.
“He was really an involved,
invested community member in
La Grande,” said Mary Groupe,
spurred by months of
drought and a blistering
heat wave in June 2021,
was the largest wildfi re of
the year, burning more than
340,000 acres — or 530
square miles — of forest
and grasslands by the time
Elbow Creek got going,
according to The New York
Times.
The U.S. Forest Ser-
vice often uses back-
burning to suppress fi res,
which increases the area
of acreage burned, OSU
Extension said.
Other possible reasons
for an increase in total
acreage burned include:
• An increase in the
number of fi res caused by
humans.
• A history of fi re sup-
pression that has led to an
increase in the amount of
fuels that are connected
across the landscape.
• A warmer and drier cli-
mate that is causing avail-
able dead fuels to dry out
earlier in the year.
• A warmer and drier cli-
mate that reduces the mois-
ture content of live vegeta-
tion. This increases plants’
potential to combust and
adds to the available fuels
on the landscape.
While many wildfi res
are started by lightning, the
vast majority are believed
to be human-caused. Fires
can result when people
leave campfi res unattended,
negligently discard ciga-
rettes or commit intentional
acts of arson.
Classic cars drive through the intersection of Adams Avenue
and Greenwood Street on Saturday, July 16, 2022. M.J. Goss
Motors held its centennial anniversary celebration on the
same day as the annual La Grande Classic Car Show.
Shannon Golden/The Observer
one of Goss’ grandchildren.
Over decades of steady
sales, the company now has 32
employees and property on both
sides of Adams Avenue. Around
2002, Dolven’s Appliances Inc.,
which was housed in the building
across the street, went out of busi-
ness. Goss Motors purchased the
building, expanding its offi ces,
showrooms and service spaces.
The company’s inventory
today includes Chevrolet, GMC,
Cadillac, Buick and Pontiac prod-
ucts. According to McAndie, M.J.
Goss’ great-grandaughter who is
the company’s electric car repre-
sentative, Goss Motors will begin
to introduce more electric vehicles
in the coming years.
All in the family
For many of the Goss family
members, the anniversary is more
than just a milestone for the com-
pany’s sweeping history. It’s also
an opportunity to walk down
memory lane.
Goss Motors acted as a second
home for a slew of children,
grandchildren and great-grand-
children. Mark Goss, the cur-
rent owner and general manager,
began pushing brooms at the busi-
ness before he turned 8 years old.
Garnet, his sister, recalled the
time she spent as a child at Goss
Motors, when her father would
bring her and her siblings to the
garage.
“It was my dad’s job to babysit
us and keep us out of trouble on
Sundays,” she said.
Garnet and her siblings took
turns raising each other up on
the garage’s rotary lifts. She also
remembers the dealership’s old
Coke machine, and the occasional
search to see if mice had gotten
into the empty bottles.
Mary Groupe, Milodene Goss’
daughter and one of Mark’s
cousins, said some of her earliest
memories growing up revolved
around the new car unveilings in
the Goss showroom. In anticipa-
tion of the yearly
September event,
the business would
cover its windows,
shielding the new
models from eager
onlookers on the
main drag in down-
town La Grande.
According
to Mary, when the day rolled
around, everyone fl ocked to the
dealership.
“It was such a big deal,” she
said. “I was so proud he was my
grandfather.”
She remembered the spectacle
of these events, from the elegant
1950s fashion of the women in
attendance to the spread of tea,
coff ee, apple cider and dough-
nuts set out for patrons. Attendees
were given what she called “party
favors” — accordioned rain bon-
nets that came in little plastic
cases.
Even for the younger gener-
ations who only spent snippets
of their childhood in La Grande,
the familiar smell of the dealer-
ship is enough to bring memories
rushing back.
“Coming to La Grande is like
coming home,” said Hayley Pratt,
a fourth-generation descendant.
“It always will be, and I haven’t
lived here since I was a baby.”
The newest family member —
5-month-old Remi, daughter of
Tayde McAndie and her husband,
Kyle — is already chalking up
hours at the dealership. According
to Tayde, Remi has met the staff
and already seems familiar with
the environment.
“I hope she has great memories
here as a kid,” Tayde said. “Like
we did.”
Passing the torch
After attaining a business
administration degree in Mich-
igan, Mark started managing the
business in his 20s, although his
father remained active in the busi-
ness until his passing in 2006. He
Goss Motors/Contributed Photo
M.J. Goss III, founder of M.J. Goss
Motor Company, opened the motor
shop in 1922 and began selling
Studebakers like the one pictured
in this photo.
eventually bought out his uncle’s
share of the company and con-
tinued to expand Goss Motors
into what it is today.
Mark has been a Chevrolet
dealer for 25 years, and currently
co-owns the company with Mark
Sherman. He noted that the car
industry has grown away from
what it used to be.
“It’s just become corporate
America,” he said, noting that
the company is now franchised
through General Motors. “You’re
just a number out here.”
Despite this shift, the company
remains grounded in its com-
munity focus. They’ve worked
to bolster their online presence
and connect with customers via
social media. They also recently
became a participating dealer
with Warranty Forever, a mainte-
nance-based coverage program.
According to Mark Goss, the
company has had opportunities
to move from Adams Avenue to a
perhaps more profi table location.
For him, the decision to stay in
downtown La Grande prioritized
community over the business.
“If we weren’t downtown,
what would downtown La Grande
have?” he said.
With more than four decades
of co-ownership under his belt,
Mark has his sights set on retire-
ment — eager for more time to
golf. He plans to shift to part-
From a childhood full of mem-
ories at the dealership to countless
hours spent working in the ser-
vice department during college,
McAndie is now the business devel-
opment and marketing manager for
the company.
“There’s just so much history
in this building. I’m probably too
attached to it,” Tayde said with a
smile.
She used to love sitting in the
showroom cars with her siblings,
Mavric and Caylin.
“We weren’t allowed to honk
the horns, but we played in them
and loved to see all the new
rigs,” she said.
On career day in ele-
mentary school, Tayde
chose to shadow her
father, fascinated by the
ins and outs of the body
shop, the service depart-
ment and the company’s
old computer database.
When her mom came to
pick her up, she elected
to stay with her father
until the end of his
workday.
Now, Tayde and
Kyle are poised to pick
up the family business,
although neither of them expected a
career in car sales.
Kyle, who initially went to
school to be a fi refi ghter paramedic,
began working at the company in
2010. Tayde, who graduated with
a bachelor’s degree in music, has
been at the business full-time since
2014. As employees themselves,
they know well the dynamics of a
family business.
“I wouldn’t work in the car busi-
ness other than here,” Kyle said,
noting the company’s down-to-
earth approach to customer service.
Kyle bought his fi rst car, a white
1985 Chevy blazer, from Mark
years before he met his daughter.
Now as the couple navigates their
roles as new parents, Kyle will
work closely with Mark to learn
how to run the company.
“It’s nerve-wracking,” he said,
“but exciting too. There’s a lot of
responsibility.”
Tayde said she never felt pres-
sured to step into owning the busi-
ness. She just wants to fi ll the role
as best she can.
“That means that I do well
for the business, I do well for the
employees, for our customers and
the community,” she said.
Tayde is unsure who will step
into the role after her and Kyle, but
she hopes to pass it on in a stable
condition, with its legacy intact.
With the unique nature of the
business’ upcoming fourth-genera-
tion ownership, some in the family
may be eager to see Remi carry on
the family business. But for Tayde,
it’s one step at a time.
“I want her to follow her
dreams,” she said. “Whatever those
are, whether that’s here or else-
where, I want her to be able to
decide that for herself.”