OFF PAGE ONE
Saturday, January 20, 2018
Kathy Aney
Employee of the Year
Toby Carlson
Customer Service Excellence
Doug Corey
President’s Award
East Oregonian
Andy McAnally
President’s Award
Page 9A
Kathy Kinkead
Boss of the Year
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Ron Martin smiles at the crowd after being named the Pendleton
Chamber of Commerce 2017 Man of the Year.
Pendleton Round-Up Association President Dave O’Neill and his fellow directors accept the
Pendleton Chamber of Commerce 2017 Excellence in Tourism Award.
CITIZENS: Prodigal Son Brewery named business of the year
Continued from 1A
She earned a Crystal
Apple award during her 32
years as an educator and
coach, and also served in
the community as a board
member for the Pendleton
School District and the Chil-
dren’s Museum of Eastern
Oregon.
She continues to serve
by attending every mobili-
zation and demobilization
for the Oregon National
Guard, sometimes being the
only one there to transport
soldiers home.
Her husband, former
Mayor Phillip Houk, won
the Man of the Year award
in 2000, but she’s now a first
citizen in her own right.
On the men’s side, Martin
got his own extended tribute
after 10 years of delivering
memorials.
Martin is a member
of seemingly every civic
and fraternal organization
in town — Rotary, Elks,
Eagles, Chamber Ambassa-
dors and Knights of Pythias
among them.
A supporter of Future
Farmers of America, St.
Anthony Hospital and the
Pendleton Warming Station,
his chapel hosts memorials
on Christmas, Memorial
Day and Veterans Day and
lends his singing voice to
events around town.
Martin told the crowd
that his son once told him
that he would be honored on
that stage one day. Martin
brushed it off, saying the
stage was reserved for people
who have “done something.”
“I still don’t feel like I’ve
done anything,” he said,
Man of the Year Award in
hand.
Besides man and woman
of the year, the chamber
handed out five other awards
to Pendleton individuals and
businesses.
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Tim and Jennifer Guenther, owners of Prodigal Son Brewery, glance back at a group of their employees after
their brewpub was named Pendleton Chamber of Commerce 2017 Business of the Year.
Business of the Year
The Prodigal Son’s return
is complete.
Only the second restaurant
to win the Business of the Year
award in banquet history, the
brewery and pub were noted
for more than doubling their
workforce, serving food with
locally sourced ingredients
and starting the Oktoberfest
Pendleton event.
“It is a community gath-
ering place – the commu-
nity’s living room where
everyone can intermingle,”
presenter Nicole Sorensen
said. “It is one of the few
places you can see a banker
and a welder talking and
laughing at a table next to a
dozen family members cele-
brating a birthday.”
Prodigal Son co-owner
Tim Guenther thanked his
employees, some of whom
have been with the restaurant
Love
Love
since the beginning, unusual
for an industry with a high
turnover rate.
President’s Award
When honoring Pend-
leton Whisky Music Fest
co-founders Doug Corey
and Andy McAnally were
compared to none other
than Roy Raley, the man
who helped found both
the Round-Up and Happy
Canyon. Presenter JJ Spriet
said they followed his
example of making “some-
thing out of nothing.”
With the third annual
whisky fest on the horizon,
Corey played with audience
emotions a little bit, telling
them that the next concert
with A-list act was scheduled
for July 14.
“And the artist will be,” he
said, adding a pregnant pause
.... “Announced in early
March.”
The audience’s groans
rose in unison.
Boss of the Year
For the second straight
year, the top boss was
bestowed on a bank manager.
Kathy Kinkead, the
manager of First Community
Credit Union, was honored
for all the things that make
an exemplary leader: being
the first one in and last
one, leading by example,
delegating fairly, organizing
fundraisers for local organi-
zations and participating in
community events.
A 22-year veteran of
First Community, Kinkead
thanked her employees in her
acceptance speech.
Employee of the Year
Already on the clock
and snapping pictures of the
night’s winners, East Orego-
nian reporter Kathy Aney
was temporarily relieved
of her photography duties
by her husband Bill as she
accepted the Employee of the
Year Award.
A 12-year reporter with
the EO, her impactful stories
were attributed to her ability
to build bonds with people
through her sense of adven-
ture and innate curiosity.
With
typical
Aney
humility,
she
thanked her bosses and
colleagues in her speech.
“I am blessed with the job
that I have,” she said.
Customer Service Excellence
Having won the Customer
Service Excellence Award
last year, Dr. John McBee
handed the award over to a
different kind of diagnosti-
cian.
Premium Tire & Lube
were noted for their dedica-
tion to their customers, like
rush ordering a set of tires for
a family on a vacation dead-
line or doing a free alignment
for a customer who had asked
for one at an earlier date but
wasn’t able to get it.
“We’re just a growing
business trying to set the bar
high,” owner Toby Carlson
said.
Excellence in Tourism
Presenter Roberta Lava-
dour dispensed with the
tradition of trying to veil the
identity of the winner until
the last minute. After all, the
Round-Up Association is
perhaps the most well-known
organization in town.
The Round-Up was
recognized not only for its
past contributions, but for its
efforts to expand its campus
and make the Round-Up
grounds a year-round desti-
nation.
Round-Up
President
Dave O’Neill said the rodeo
was now the longest lasting
attraction in town, surpassing
the prostitution industry.
“I know this isn’t a thing to
hang your hat on, but it’s an
interesting piece of history,”
he said with a smile.
———
Contact Antonio Sierra at
asierra@eastoregonian.com
or 541-966-0836.
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