NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
A2
Tuesday, February 15, 2022
Enterprise church replaces defunct bell system
ty’s affection for Swart.
“People just got together
and made it happen,” he said.
“Personally, I was skeptical
we were going to be able to,
but it’s a testimony to who
Gail was.”
Stacy Green agreed.
“It’s about honoring Gail
as a member of the church,”
she said. “She played piano
here most of her life. It’s
being done in her honor.”
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
ENTERPRISE — After
a couple of years of silence,
the bells at the Enterprise
Community Congregational
Church are ringing again. The
church on Thursday, Feb. 10,
installed anew carillon.
A carillon is a set of bells
in a tower, played using a
keyboard or by an automatic
mechanism similar to a piano
roll. According to the Guild
of Carillonneurs of North
America there are 166 tradi-
tional carillons in the United
States, and Enterprise has
one of those.
Church member Stacy
Green said the old carillon
ceased to work a couple years
ago.
Skip Pepers of the Verdin
Co. drove from Boise the
morning of Feb. 10 to install
the carillon, largely the
legacy left by longtime musi-
cal director and pianist at the
“Big Brown Church,” Gail
Swart.
“We have had caril-
lon, according to Verdin’s
records, since 1964,” Green
said. “Verdin replaced the
1964 model in the 1990s and
that lasted until a couple of
years ago. We were trying
to repair it, and we couldn’t
repair it and we just decided
The carillon
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
Skip Pepers, of the Verdin Co., solders a connection Thursday, Feb. 10, 2022, while installing
a new control system for the carillon bell system at the Enterprise Community Congregation-
al Church. The old system, which was installed in the 1990s, has been out of commission for
a couple of years.
we needed a new one, but that
was $12,000, so it was a big
expense.”
Swart was instrumental in
getting the new sound system
in place.
“It was something that
was important to Gail Swart,
who was our longtime music
director. Gail passed away
Jan. 28,” Green said. “She
helped raise the money. She
sent out letters and put the
word out that we were trying
to raise the money. That was
last fall. Shortly after that,
she was diagnosed with
cancer. This was a project
that was important to her and
she was thrilled to know that
it would go forward.”
Ken Holt, chairman of the
Forecast for Pendleton Area
| Go to AccuWeather.com
TODAY
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
Intervals of clouds
and sunshine
Breezy in the
morning; cloudy
Partly sunny and
not as cool
Partly sunny and
mild
Sun and clouds
52° 33°
52° 32°
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
58° 37°
61° 36°
55° 38°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
58° 33°
60° 32°
62° 38°
61° 36°
OREGON FORECAST
60° 39°
ALMANAC
Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.
PENDLETON
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Seattle
Olympia
49/42
40/30
53/28
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
48/35
Lewiston
48/41
57/32
Astoria
49/41
Pullman
Yakima 46/24
48/38
47/33
Portland
Hermiston
50/41
The Dalles 58/33
Salem
Corvallis
49/36
Yesterday
Normals
Records
La Grande
41/28
PRECIPITATION
John Day
Eugene
Bend
50/39
52/28
41/30
Ontario
47/26
Caldwell
Burns
56°
30°
49°
29°
65° (2011) -11° (1929)
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
Albany
49/37
0.02"
0.02"
0.47"
0.95"
0.90"
1.61"
WINDS (in mph)
49/25
43/23
0.06"
0.10"
0.59"
1.63"
2.45"
2.13"
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Pendleton 36/21
52/40
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
HERMISTON
Enterprise
52/33
57/42
48°
34°
47°
30°
66° (1898) -4° (1936)
PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
47/37
Aberdeen
42/28
44/31
Tacoma
Yesterday
Normals
Records
Spokane
Wenatchee
47/41
Today
Boardman
Pendleton
Medford
51/33
Wed.
WSW 4-8
W 7-14
WSW 4-8
W 7-14
SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
48/22
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2022
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
Full
6:57 a.m.
5:22 p.m.
4:19 p.m.
6:59 a.m.
Last
New
church’s board of trustees,
recalled Swart’s longstand-
ing commitment to music at
the church.
“She started playing here
when she was 12 years old,”
he said.
Mark Green, Stacy’s
husband, said the success of
the fundraising showed the
church’s and the communi-
The carillon has no
real bells, Pepers said. He
replaced the electronics:
the control system and the
amplifier, which sends a digi-
tally recorded sound of bells
through four large speakers
mounted on the church’s roof.
“They’re actually all digi-
tal,” Pepers said. “They’re
not real bells. Even the
old system was all digital;
they’re not real swinging
bells. What’s up on the tower
are four big horns that are in
an array facing out. … It’s a
complete digital system with
recorded bells on it.”
As for the times the bells
will ring, that will be up to
the church leadership. Mark
Green said the talk has been
about sounding the bells at
noon and 6 p.m.
Unlike what some people
have thought, the carillon
Search fails to turn up Idaho
angler missing since Jan. 17
report at 9:13 a.m. on Feb. 4.
Ash said he and four others left
the dock at the Visitors Center
HELLS CANYON — A around 1 p.m. that day.
Ash said the searchers
steelhead angler reported
seeing what he believed was a spent a few hours searching
body in the Snake River below but did not find a body.
Hells Canyon Dam on Friday
He said the current in the
area is strong and unpredict-
morning, Feb. 4.
A team from the Baker able, and the Sheriff’s Office
does not have the abil-
County Sheriff ’s
ity to put a diver in the
Office Search and
Rescue team brought
water at that site.
a boat to the site,
Ash said no addi-
tional searches are
about 1 mile down-
river from the Hells
planned unless the
Canyon Visitors
Sher iff ’s Off ice
receives new reports
Center, hoping to
Sillonis
in the area.
recover the body of
T he Sher if f ’s
an Idaho fisherman,
Alberto Sillonis, who went Office announced last month
missing in the area on Jan. 17. that it believes Sillonis, 85, of
Searchers did not find the Weiser, drowned after fall-
body, Sheriff Travis Ash said ing from a dock into the river
on Feb. 7.
below the Visitors Center.
The steelhead fisher-
Sillonis had left his home
man, who was fishing on on the morning of Jan. 17 and
the Oregon side of the river, planned to return home that
reported seeing the body in a evening.
back eddy where the water is
Relatives reported him
about 10 to 12 feet deep, Ash missing about 6 p.m. that day
said.
when he failed to return.
T he Ba ker Cou nt y
Baker County deputies,
Dispatch Center received the along with deputies from the
By JAYSON JACOBY
Baker City Herald
IN BRIEF
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 84° in Palm Springs, Calif. Low -42° in Brimson, Minn.
Feb 16
Feb 23
Mar 2
Mar 10
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
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0s
showers t-storms
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rain
20s
flurries
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snow
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ice
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cold front
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Washington County Sheriff’s
Office in Idaho, began search-
ing the route to Hells Canyon
as well as checking hotels in
nearby towns.
At about 9:07 p.m. on Jan.
17, deputies found Sillonis’
2008 Nissan Frontier pickup
truck in the parking lot at the
Hells Canyon Visitors Center.
Deputies searched the
immediate vicinity and found
two fishing poles, with the line
from one still in the water, on
the center dock.
On the morning of Jan. 18,
searchers found a felt, short-
brimmed hat on rocks about
60 feet from the dock, which
Sillonis’ family confirmed
was his.
Idaho Power Company
employees used a remote-op-
erated vehicle with an under-
water camera and sonar to
search the river, but with no
success.
Sillonis is a white man who
stands 5-foot-8 and weighs
about 160 pounds. He has
white hair.
If anyone has information
about Sillonis, they can call
Ash at 541-523-6415.
First
NATIONAL EXTREMES
-10s
isn’t played from a keyboard
or an organ, Stacy Green
said.
Pepers said some carillons
can be played by keyboards,
but not this one. However,
Stacy Green said, the church
can alter its sound to coincide
with special holidays, such as
Christmas, Easter, Thanks-
giving and the Fourth of July.
She said the Enterprise
community has missed the
carillon since the old system
quit working and will be glad
to have it working again —
properly.
“We’ve gotten very posi-
tive comments from the
community,” she said. “We
did check with the city of
Enterprise before getting
a new one, and with the
neighbors. The only prob-
lem we’ve ever had with the
carillon is when our last one
got misfired and was going at
midnight, 3 a.m. and 6 a.m.
That did not make us any
friends in the neighborhood.”
Many people in the
community donated toward
the new carillon, many in
the memory of someone
they cared about and others
to honor Swart, Stacy Green
said.
“We hope every time
people hear the bells,” she
said. “It’ll bring joy to the
neighborhood.”
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