REGION
Tuesday, October 12, 2021
East Oregonian
A3
Cemetery Walk brings history to life Prescribed burns to start
in Umatilla National Forest
By BEN LONERGAN
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — Olney Ceme-
tery came alive Friday, Oct. 8 and
Saturday, Oct. 9, as costumed
performers portraying charac-
ters of Pendleton’s early days
stood beside their tombstones and
welcomed guests to the Olney
Cemetery Walk.
“It went so much better than I
could’ve hoped,” said library assis-
tant Heather Culley. “It was just full
and everybody had a good time.”
Actors enthusiastically played
Pendleton’s residents of yesteryear,
including Nancy Despain, Aura
Goodwin Raley, Hank Vaughan,
Dorothy Lampkin Engle, Frederick
Lampkin and Lot Livermore.
Culley lead a group of attendees
between the various characters and
added information about the era and
those involved. She said roughly 90
people took part in the tours over
the two days they were run and
she hopes to be able to expand the
program even larger next year.
“I hope to do this every year,” she
said.
The Pendleton Public Library put
on the event with help from Pend-
leton Parks & Recreation, Heritage
Station Museum and Pendleton
Underground Tours.
Next year, Culley said, she hopes
to be able to add more characters,
including Umatilla County Sheriff
Til Taylor. She said she is seeking an
actor on horseback to play the part.
The Observer
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Karin Power portrays Nancy Despain for a crowd Saturday, Oct. 9, 2021, at
Olney Cemetery in Pendleton as part of the Historic Olney Cemetery Walk,
which brings some of Pendleton’s history to life.
Culley said the original idea
was for a haunted cemetery event,
but concerns over respecting those
interred at Olney Cemetery lead
herself and others at the library to
get more creative and the Historic
Olney Cemetery Walk was born.
“We just did colorful historical
characters from Pendleton’s past,”
said Culley. “It was a lot better than
I could’ve even dreamed.”
As former library director Mary
Finney stood beside the headstone
of Aura Goodwin Raley, she recited
tales of the early days of Pendleton.
Goodwin Raley, who lived from
1829-1913, is often regarded as the
“mother of Pendleton” after she
and her husband Moses Goodwin
donated land for the original town
plat, a cemetery, the courthouse and
college.
“I chose Aura because I know she
was one of the early persons,” said
Finney. “I think when you study their
life you realize what a hardship —
what deprivations they go through
and you cannot do anything but
really be awed by what they went
through.”
Finney explained to attendees the
experiences of Goodwin Raley’s life
including her travels on the Oregon
Trail and the role she played in the
early years of the town.
“It’s quite an honor,” she said of
the experience. “I hope I’ve gotten
most of it right”
Athena’s Gem gets grant for pipe organ installation
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — Two Umatilla
County organizations will receive
more than $10,000 apiece in grants
as part of an award from the Oregon
Cultural Trust’s 20th anniversary
celebration.
The trust announced the awards
Friday, Oct. 8.
Athena’s Gem Inc., Athena,
received $18,341 and will use that
money to install a 1921 Wurlitzer
pipe organ/orchestral unit. The
Wurlitzer, which will be a center-
piece at The Gem Theatre in
Athena, will be the only one east of
the Cascades, according to a press
release from the Oregon Cultural
Trust.
“It’s very exciting,” said Rob
McIntyre, the theatre’s project
manager and treasurer, who runs
the music department for the Athe-
na-Weston School District. “It’s one
more piece of the puzzle.”
McIntyre said the grant funding
will go toward continued efforts at
renovating the theater in Athena.
The renovation is intended to turn
the generations-old structure into
a regional platform for performing
arts, McIntyre said.
He said different parts of a
Wurlitzer can be very expensive,
and they likely wouldn’t have been
able to purchase those parts without
the grant.
It’s the third grant the project
has received from the cultural
trust, McIntyre added. So far,
about $1.7 million has been allo-
cated toward the renovation.
Students from Weston-McEwan
High School for four years have
donated countless hours toward
the renovation, McIntyre said. The
class, called Opus 503, works on
different projects, such as rebuild-
ing the Wurlitzer’s air reservoir and
releathering an organ chest’s pneu-
matic valves.
The Oregon Cultural Trust also
granted $12,213 to the Arts Coun-
cil of Pendleton “to support deliv-
ery of a variety of cultural services
in rural Eastern Oregon,” the press
release said.
The trust reported the awards
were part of more than $3.2 million
in grant to 140 cultural organizations
across the state. The amount was a
record for the trust.
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PENDLETON — Prescribed
burns are set to begin soon in
the Umatilla National Forest.
The prescribed burns may
start this month depending
upon weather conditions and
could impact camping and
hunting opportunities in several
portions of the forest, according
to a U.S. Forest Service press
release.
All road and trail closures
associated with prescribed
burns will go into effect prior
to their starts. Prescribed burns
typically take two to five days to
complete. Hunters are advised
to plan ahead and avoid camp-
ing in the designated prescribed
burn areas during this year’s
upcoming hunting seasons.
The prescribed burns will
be conducted because frequent,
low-intensity fire is essential
for healthy forests and reduc-
ing the risk of uncharacteris-
tic wildfire caused by excessive
fuel buildup, according to
the press release. Prescribed
burning is an effective tool for
removing excessive amounts of
brush, shrubs, and trees, while
also encouraging the growth of
native vegetation, according to
the press release.
Prescribed burning also is
highly dependent on weather
conditions. The weather must
be within a narrow criteria
before prescribed burns can
be conducted. Factors such
as wind speed and direction,
temperatures, relative humid-
ity and fuel moisture are all
LOCAL BRIEFING
Tribal offices closed
for state’s Indigenous
Peoples’ Day
PENDLETON — Govern-
ment offices on the Confed-
erated Tribes of the Umatilla
Indian Reservation were closed
Monday, Oct. 11, in observance
of Oregon’s first Indigenous
Peoples’ Day.
The holiday comes a week
after the board of trustees passed
motions approving the new holi-
day alongside Juneteenth, which
celebrates the emancipation of
Black Americans from slavery.
It is the first Indigenous
Peoples’ Day since Oregon
passed legislation in May
recognizing the holiday. The
holiday commemorates the
significant contributions Indig-
enous people have made to the
state and country.
— EO Media Group
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taken into consideration prior
to starting a prescribed burn
operation. The current rains
and moderate temperatures are
creating conditions suitable for
prescribed burns.
“From a restoration objective
standpoint, late summer and fall
provide the best opportunities
for the timing of prescribed
fires,” said Andrew Stinchfield,
deputy fire staff officer. “Fire
behavior during fall weather
conditions is more likely to
align with how the native vege-
tation has adapted to fire.”
Hunters should be cautious
when entering a recently burned
area and be aware of increased
hazards, particularly snags.
Dead or dying trees that remain
standing after a fire are unsta-
ble, especially in high winds.
The Umatilla National Forest
has developed a prescribed fire
interactive map displaying
planned burning activities. The
imap allows the user to zoom
in on certain areas and click
on a burn unit for more infor-
mation (such as acreage, status
and more). When burning oper-
ations begin, the interactive
map will be updated to display
which burn units are actively
burning. Maps of the proposed
prescribed burns also are on
InciWeb at inciweb.nwcg.gov/
incident/5808.
Additional information on
prescribed burning is avail-
able on the Umatilla National
Forest website at www.fs.usda.
gov/umatilla, and on the Forest
Facebook page at www.face-
book.com/UmatillaNF.
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