REGION
Tuesday, November 2, 2021
East Oregonian
A3
Temps remain warmer than normal in Pendleton
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — The Pendleton
area experienced slightly warmer than
normal temperatures during the month
of October, according to preliminary
data received by the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration’s
National Weather Service Office in
Pendleton.
The average temperature during the
month was 52.3 degrees, 0.4 degrees above
normal. High temperatures averaged 64.2
degrees, 0.5 degrees above normal, accord-
ing to the monthly climate summary.
The highest temperature was 78
degrees recorded Oct. 21.
Low temperatures averaged 40.4
degrees, 0.3 degrees above normal. The
lowest temperature for the month was 26
degrees, recorded Oct. 12. There were
three days with the low temperature below
32 degrees.
Precipitation for the month totaled
1.03 inches during October, which was
0.02 inches above normal, the report said.
Measurable precipitation — at least 0.01
inch — was received on sis days during
the month, according to the monthly
climate summary, with the heaviest, 0.56
inches, recorded Oct. 22.
Precipitation for the year is 6.02 inches,
which is 3.65 inches below normal.
The highest wind gust was 47 mph on
Oct. 21, the report said.
The outlook for November from
NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center
calls for near normal temperatures and
above normal precipitation. Normal
highs for the Pendleton airport fall from
56 degrees at the start of November to
43 degrees at the end of the month.
Normal lows fall from 37 degrees to
30 degrees. The 30-year normal precip-
itation is 1.52 inches.
Sticking the fi nal landing
LOCAL BRIEFING
WASH I NGTON —
Chuck Sams, the former
interim executive director
of the Confederated Tribes
of the Umatilla Indian
Reservation, could get one
step closer to becoming the
director of the National Park
Service on Tuesday, Nov. 2.
The Senate Commit-
tee on Energy and Natural
Resources will meet that day
to vote on Sams and seven
other Biden administration
nominees. The commit-
tee held a hearing for Sams
on Oct. 18, and although
some senators questioned
Sams lack of experience
in national parks, no one
seemed to object to his
nomination.
The public can view the
committee’s vote at energy.
senate.gov and then click on
“Live Webcast” under the
“Committee Activity” tab.
The committee’s meeting
will start at 7 a.m.
If Sams passes out of
committee, he will still
require a vote from the full
U.S. Senate to be confi rmed.
By PHIL WRIGHT AND
ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Gary Stanner gives instructions Friday, Oct. 29, 2021, to gymnasts at Eastern Oregon Gym-
nastics Academy in Pendleton. Stanner, who has operated the facility since 1987, closed the
club’s doors that day and stepped into retirement.
One last trip to the mat
Stanner held a closing party
Friday evening at the club,
1819 Westgate, with members
of the team and previous
students and others associated
with Eastern Oregon Gymnas-
tics Academy.
Wearing a black T-shirt
that read, “If gymnastics
were easy they’d call it foot-
ball,” Stanner invited several
generations of the acade-
my’s gymnasts to the party,
including Sandra Easley,
who was among Stanner’s
fi rst students in Pendleton.
“She knows all my secrets
and where all the bodies are
buried,” he said jokingly.
St a n ne r’s you nge st
students came in leotards
and took part in one last set
of tumbling drills. Watching
the students tumble around
the mat, Easley pointed to the
opposite wall, now covered
in mirror.
“I’m pretty sure my skin
cells are still on that wall,”
she said.
For all the success and
renown that Stanner brought
to the gym, his former
students often remembered
some of their biggest wipe-
outs just as often as they
remembered international
trips and tournament victo-
ries. Stanner recalled the
time he donned a motorcy-
cle helmet during practices
because one student kept
whacking him in the head as
she attempted a vault.
But that was all a part
of the process in Stanner’s
view. Winning was fl eeting,
he said. The character that
was built through gymnas-
tics was far more permanent.
No matter what age they
were, students said they
found camaraderie and confi -
dence at the Eastern Oregon
Gymnastics Academy, build-
ing self-esteem and commu-
nity as they attempted to hurl
themselves through the air
every week.
Students who aged out
of the program came back
as coaches, and when they
started having children of
their own, they provided the
next generation of students.
His latest coaches, Grace
Chay, 17, and Shaelynn Silva,
18, did a few fl oor exercises
after the students wrapped
up their drill. They later
began wiping away tears as
they recalled what the gym
meant to them.
Years of trying to defy
gravity takes a toll on bones
and muscle, a distinct real-
ity felt by Stanner’s early
students, including Easley
and Tina Zeckman. Zeck-
man said youth gymnastics
has meant arthritis at her
current age, but it’s not a
tradeoff she regrets.
Stanner said he has no
children, but owning the club
and coaching its athletes has
been a passion.
“Looking back on it,” he
said, “it was the best times
in my life.”
Family medicine
doctor joins Good
Shepherd staff
HERMISTON — Good
Shepherd Health Care
System in a press release
Monday, Nov. 1, announced
a family medicine Dr. Nicole
SALE
45
ANNIVERSARY
YEARS
and worked a deal to own the
club outright in 10 years.
Then Pendleton got into
his blood.
“I love this town,” he said.
“I love the people in it.”
Since then, Stanner said,
the rest of the story is rather
historic.
Eastern Oregon Gymnas-
tics Academy has sent teams
to perform and compete
three times in England and
twice each in Switzerland
and Hawaii, he said, where
one of the club’s athletes won
the Aloha Junior Gymfest.
The little gymnastics club
that could in Pendleton also
played host to international
teams, Stanner said, includ-
ing for a week to the junior
Romanian national team,
and has hosted half a dozen
or so competitions. The club
even has produced a pair of
gymnastics judges, he said.
The club usually has a
team of 12-15 athletes, he
said, but the coronavirus
pandemic threw up some
road blocks, and as of the
last week, there were 10
members on the team.
Stanner said his own
physical problems make this
the time to depart.
“I have to have my right
knee replaced,” he said.
Patching is joining the Good
Shepherd Primary Care
Clinic.
Patching is accepting
new patients at the clinic
at 620 N.W. 11th St., Suite
M-103, Hermiston, along
with Dr. David Shanley,
family nurse practitioner
Angie Hayes and JoDee
Williams, doctor of nursing
practice. Patching is board
certifi ed by the American
Board of Family Medicine.
Patching was born and
raised in Winnipeg, Canada
where most of her family
lives. But the appeal of the
Pacifi c Northwest brought
her to Eastern Oregon.
“I am drawn to the moun-
tains, seasonal weather and
outdoor activities,” she said
in the press release “It’s
beautiful country to set
some roots down.”
She obtained her doctor
of medicine at Saba Univer-
sity School of Medicine in
Saba, Dutch Caribbean.
Patching then completed her
family medicine residency
at Hennepin Healthcare in
Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Patching can care for
patients of all ages and
provides a wide scope of
practice.
For more information,
call the clinic at 541-667-
3830. For a more complete
listing of services, visit www.
gshealth.org/good-shep-
herd-medical-group/prima-
ry-care-clinic.
— EO Media Group
Committee set
to vote on Sams
nomination
Eastern Oregon
Gymnastics
Academy closes
after 34 years
PENDLETON — The last
gymnast has tiptoed along
the balance beam or flew
between the parallel bars at
Eastern Oregon Gymnastics
Academy.
The private gymnastics
training facility in Pendleton
closed its doors Friday, Oct.
29. Gary Stanner, who oper-
ated the club since August
1987 said at 78 he is retir-
ing, but his love for the sport
and the athletes he trained
remains vibrant.
Stanner said he felt “kind
of sad around the edges”
about turning out the lights
and rolling up the mats. The
closest real gymnast club, he
said, is in the Tri-Cities.
Stanner recounted he
became involved in gymnas-
tics after earning a Ph.D in
anthropology at the Univer-
sity of California, Davis. He
took an instructor position
at Oregon State University,
Corvallis, and there devel-
oped an interest in gymnas-
tics and became involved in
the sport at OSU.
That would become his
life’s work.
He departed OSU for Los
Altos, California, where he
worked as a coach at Twisters
Gymnastics and was one of the
last coaches for Pam Bileck,
before she competed for the
United States national team at
the 1984 Summer Olympics
and won a silver medal in the
team competition.
But working at Twisters
did not last long. He said the
club was in a tumultuous
situation with its husband
and wife owners splitting up.
And the Bay Area’s pollu-
tion, he said, took a toll on
his respiratory health.
So he headed to Europe
for a few months then
recalled the fresh air of
Oregon and stayed with a
friend in Salem for a month.
There he sent out resumes
and landed the gymnastics
coach job in Pendleton.
He made the trip east to
meet the owner and checked
out the club.
“I came over here to teach
for a week,” Stanner said. “I
found out the club was in
terrible, desperate shape.”
But by then, he said, it was
too late. He loved the club’s
athletes and their dedication,
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
The setting sun lights up the sky Friday, Oct. 29, 2021,
over Pendleton. The National Weather Service record-
ed slightly warmer than expected temperatures in
Pendleton during the month of October.
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