WEEKEND EDITION
NOVEMBER 27-28, 2021
146th Year, No. 16
INSIDE
$1.50
WINNER OF 16 ONPA AWARDS IN 2021
PENDLETON ROUND-UP NAMES 2022 QUEEN AND COURT
Ride on,
cowboy
THANKSGIVING IN EASTERN OREGON
Saddlemaker
couldn’t overcome
lung damage from
COVID-19
By KATHY ANEY
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — Randy Severe
was big on life.
The veteran saddlemaker never
went long in conversation before
throwing his head back for a
delighted laugh. Severe, who died
Sunday morning, Nov. 21, from the
eff ects of COVID-19, often found
humor in his world.
One story involved rodeo cowboy
Larry Mahan getting bucked off
in Severe’s saddle shop. That day,
Mahan, a six-time world champion
bull rider, tested a saddle by hopping
aboard one that was
sitting on a saddle
rack.
“He stuck his
feet in the stirrups,”
Severe said, telling
the story in a recent
video. “When it
Severe
started tipping, he
couldn’t get out of it
and it bucked him off , right there in
the shop.”
On the video, Severe put his head
back and laughed. Not a loud guff aw
or a belly laugh, but delighted all the
same.
Those who knew Severe will
miss that laugh, along with the easy
way he listened intently to everyone,
treating each like the most import-
ant person on earth.
Severe spent almost two months
on a ventilator in a Portland hospi-
tal struggling with the eff ects of
COVID-19, which severely damaged
his lungs. Upon his death at age 70,
friends and family are focusing not
on how he died, but how he lived.
Over the years, Severe built
upward of 230 trophy saddles
for champions of the Pendleton
Round-Up. Severe is known for his
artistry. Requests for saddles stream
in from all over the place, but his
priority was crafting trophy saddles
for his hometown rodeo, where he
had volunteered since he was a boy.
As a man, he served as a Pendleton
Round-Up director for 10 years, the
last two as president.
Severe’s shop is a step back in
time. The smell of leather perme-
ates this domain of cowhide and
wood. Hundreds of tools line
the walls, along with old photos,
antlers, straps, stirrups and buck-
les. An ancient guitar hangs from a
peg. The instrument is a gift from
country singer Bonnie Guitar to
his uncle Duff Severe, who taught
See Cowboy, Page A9
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Volunteers package to-go meals Thursday, Nov. 25, 2021, for the Community Fellowship Dinner at Hermiston High School.
THANKSGIVING SPIRIT
Hermiston Community
Fellowship Dinner
persists despite missing
much fellowship
By ERICK PETERSON
East Oregonian
H
ERMISTON —
MORE
Volunteers stood
beside containers
For more
of roast turkey
local Thanks-
dinners with all
giving Day
the trimmings
coverage,
Thursday, Nov.
visit eastore-
25, Thanksgiving morn-
gonian.com.
ing, minutes ahead of
the Community Fellow-
ship Dinner. Hundreds of
meals were ready for distribution. To get them,
all anyone had to do was drive up and reach
out their hands.
It was an event that was emotional for some
of the volunteers, including Heather Smart,
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
See Spirit, Page A9
Volunteer Dre Lozano organizes to-go meals Thursday, Nov. 25, 2021, at the Community Fel-
lowship Dinner at Hermiston High School.
Pendleton Salvation Army dishes Thanksgiving meals
By BRYCE DOLE
East Oregonian
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
ENDLETON — Gregg Carter has a mantra
— think beyond yourself.
He said it time and again while volun-
teering Thursday, Nov. 25, at the Pendleton
Salvation Army, 150 S.E. Emigrant Ave.
He helped the volunteers prepare as many as 150
meals for people in need on Thanksgiving.
Volunteers handed out tall stacks of meals
made from the 25 turkey breasts, 30 boxes of
stuffi ng, fi ve large cans of green beans and count-
less amounts of mashed potatoes, candied yams,
casserole and much more. They also delivered as
many as 76 of them to people across town.
“I love being able to help others who need it,”
said Maj. Toni Halstad, who has been active with
the Salvation Army for 25 years.
Carter, a 60-year-old former U.S. Marine,
traveled the country for years getting by on odd
jobs from carpentry to health care before coming
to Pendleton six years ago. A self-described mini-
malist and “mad-hatter” who lost most of his ring
fi nger in a wood-working accident, Carter said
Gregg Carter, left, picks up a Thanksgiving meal from Maj. Toni Halstad at the Salvation
Army in Pendleton after working as a volunteer Thursday, Nov. 25, 2021, at the lunch.
See Meals, Page A9
P