COMMUNITY
Saturday, August 13, 2022
East Oregonian
Rose Murphey
looks back on
an ‘amazing’ life
COMMUNITY BRIEFING
By JOHN TILLMAN
East Oregonian
East Oregonian, File
Umatilla County sheriff ’s deputy Darrin Parsons spits a watermelon seed to victory on Aug. 21, 2021, during Melon Fest in
downtown Hermiston. The event returns Saturday, Aug. 20, 2022, on Hermiston’s Festival Street.
Melon Fest brings slice of
fun to Hermiston
HERMISTON — Watermelons
take center stage during an all-day
festival in Hermiston.
Melon Fest returns Saturday,
Aug. 20, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on downtown
Hermiston’s Festival Street. Presented
by the Hermiston Downtown District,
Hermiston Parks and Recreation and
the Hermiston Chamber of Commerce,
there is no admission charge to attend.
The outdoor event features activities
for the kids, vendor booths, a costume
contest, bathtub races, a seed-spitting
contest and of course, free slices of
Hermiston watermelon. Live entertain-
ment brings Jonna Kopta to the stage
at 9 a.m., and Dallin Puzey will start
playing at 11 a.m.
Open to all ages, the costume
contest starts at 10 a.m. Prizes will be
awarded to the top three places.
Prepare to get wet during the Melon
Fest Bathtub Races, which start at
noon. Teams of three members — two
pushing and one “driving” — will
navigate between street cones down a
100-foot course. Competing head-to-
head with another team, winners will
advance to the next round.
While the tubs are provided, racers
are encouraged to get creative with
team uniforms and slogans. Open to
participants 18 and older, the entry fee
is $5. Register at the Hermiston Parks
and Recreation website under “Special
Events” or via bit.ly/BathTubRace2022.
In addition to bragging rights, prizes
valued at up to $300 will be awarded
between winners of the costume
contest and bathtub races.
For more information, search www.
facebook.com/Hermistondowntown or
call 541-667-5018.
Wheatstock cranks up
music on Aug. 20
HELIX — Three bands based out
of Austin, Texas, are fi lling half the
lineup of the 2022 Wheatstock Music
Festival.
In its 14th year, the event is Satur-
day, Aug. 20, 3-10 p.m. at Quantum 9
Arena, Helix.
The Lone Star State acts include
Josh Abbott Band and Micky and
the Motorcars, both from the red dirt
music scene, and Giovannie & The
Hired Guns, who incorporate every-
thing from Southern rock and stoner
metal to la musica nortena and Latin
hip-hop.
Filling out the rest of the lineup is
the Oklahoma-based group Ragland
— off ering up Okie Americana with a
twist of edgy, alt-country — and bands
hailing from the area include Impe-
rial Twang and The Froghollow Band.
DeWayne Dunlap, festival president,
said they continue to honor Wheat-
stock’s roots of showcasing regional
musicians.
The nonprofi t festival was founded
with the purpose of raising money
for the Helix School District. It also
donates proceeds to Cross the Divide, a
wilderness retreat for combat veterans
in the Wallowa Mountains.
General admission tickets are $59
and VIP packages are $149, which
East Oregonian, File
Members of the Oregon East Symphony’s Preludes Orchestra perform Jan. 27,
2022, at the Vert Auditorium in Pendleton. The symphony recently announced
it received a Wildhorse Foundation grant to help support Playing for Keeps, its
youth music education program.
includes one admission ticket, a
limited backstage pass, a meet-and-
greet with the Josh Abbott Band and
a signed event poster. For tickets or
more information, visit www.wheat-
stock.org.
Tickets still available for
Round-Up concert
PENDLETON — The Pendleton
Round-Up and Happy Canyon kick-
off concert is just around the corner.
Organizers announced earlier this
year that Nashville recording artist Kip
Moore is the concert headliner. The
singer-songwriter will share some of
his chart-topping tunes on the Satur-
day leading up to Round-Up week. The
concert is Sept. 10, 7 p.m. at Happy
Canyon Arena, 1601 Westgate. The
gates open at 6 p.m.
A troubadour in the truest sense,
Moore released his most recent studio
album, “Wild World,” after traveling
the globe to places like Maui, Costa
Rica, Australia and Scotland. The
self-described lone wolf found peace
as he wrote a collection of songs.
And in mid-June, it was announced
that singer-songwriter Ned LeDoux
is the opening act. Carrying on his
father’s musical legacy — Chris
LeDoux, a cowboy crooner and rodeo
champion, died in 2005 — he’s bring-
ing a new voice to the LeDoux name.
Known for his high-energy shows,
LeDoux mixes his western roots with
the rock ’n’ roll infl uences of his youth.
In addition to headlining his own
shows, LeDoux has opened for Garth
Brooks, Toby Keith and Aaron Watson.
Tickets range from $51-$90. Also,
VIP packages are available for $156,
which includes dinner before the
concert and beverages during the show.
For more information or to purchase
tickets, visit www.pendletonroundup.
com. For questions, call 541-276-2553.
Symphony’s youth
project receives
Wildhorse grant
PENDLETON — The Oregon East
Symphony recently received a $10,000
grant award from the Wildhorse Foun-
A7
dation to support the symphony’s Play-
ing for Keeps project.
A comprehensive classical music
education program, Playing for Keeps
targets rural youths located in Umatilla
County and Confederated Tribes of
the Umatilla Indian Reservation. The
grant will be used to support activities,
classes, rehearsals and performances of
area youth musicians in fourth through
12th grades.
Designed for diff erent ages and skill
levels, the project features beginner-
and intermediate-level youth orches-
tras — Preludes and Oregon East
Symphony Youth Orchestra — and
Symphony Strings, an afterschool
beginning strings program produced
in collaboration with the Pendleton
School District. It also includes the
Youth Chamber Collective, a youth
chamber ensemble; Raising the Bar,
a mentoring program for advanced
students who perform as members of
the Oregon East Symphony; Nixyaawii
Strings, an art elective for students
at Nixyaawii Community School;
Summer Strings, a weeklong music
day camp; plus private lesson fi nan-
cial assistance and an instrument lend-
ing library.
The bi-annual Young Peoples’
Concert, which has been on hiatus
since 2020, will return this fall. An
educational concert for area fourth
and fi fth grade students, it will feature
music from “Star Wars” and Gustav
Holst’s “The Planets.”
For more information about the
Oregon East Symphony’s upcoming
concert season, Playing for Keeps and
the Young People’s Concert, email
info@oregoneastsymphony.org or call
541-276-0320.
The Wildhorse Foundation is a
community benefi t fund established by
the CTUIR. The board considers quar-
terly grant applications in the areas of
public health and safety, education, the
arts, historic preservation, gambling
addiction services, salmon restoration,
environmental protection and cultural
activities.
The next application deadline is
Oct. 1. For more information, visit
www.thewildhorsefoundation.com.
— EO Media Group
PENDLETON — Rose
Murphey of Pendleton is in
her seventh decade, and said
her drive for life has led her to
have an interesting one so far.
Murphey said she was
born on a poor farm and lived
as a child in a Hermiston
migrant labor camp, work-
ing in the fi elds. At 12, she
picked strawberries in Park-
dale, hoed mint and cut seed
potatoes.
“I could see the mighty
Columbia River,” she said.
“(Then I worked) nights in a
hot potato chip factory and
(canned) asparagus at Rogers
in Walla Walla. I was always
hungry for a better life than
the one I grew up in, always
dreaming of the white picket
fence and a nice little white
house. No living in a trailer
with a few kids hanging (on)
my knees, was never going to
be my life plan.”
Murphey, 71, moved to
Pendleton as an emancipated
minor at 15. She got a job as
a dishwasher for B&K Donut
shop.
“Bob called me ‘Mighty
Mouse’ because I only
weighed about 90 pounds,
but I was a hard worker,” she
said. “Later I worked at the
Rivoli Theater and the Ranch
Cafe. At age 21, not wanting
to be trapped into waitress
work, I joined the Women
Marines. I wanted to go to
college, but on my own with
no family support, it would
never happen.”
In boot camp at Parris
Island, South Carolina,
Murphey said she had an aller-
gic reaction to some vaccine
shots. She was medically
discharged from the Marine
Corps after 18 months.
“I presented with big welts
all over my body,” she said. “I
had orders to go to Okinawa
to serve my first KP duty.
But after spending weeks in
the Balboa Naval Hospital,
because the fever blisters and
welts kept recurring, I was
discharged instead.”
Murphey said she still
suff ered health issues after
discharge at 23.
“I continued to have
outbreaks and blisters on
my skin coming from inside
me,” she said. “Usually stress
or getting a cold or fl u, herpes
around my mouth, which later
led to fi bromyalgia, chronic
fatigue, Epstein-Barr system,
sleeplessness and so much
more.”
Despite these medical
conditions, Murphey acti-
vated her life plan.
“I was smart, motivated
and a real hard worker,” she
said. “To prepare me to return
to civilian life, my IQ, which
was 125 that day, I was told
I had more in common with
a judge or politician. I said,
like that is ever going to
happen. See, I can’t spell and
have dyslexia and my last
math class was in the seventh
grade.”
The GI Bill and federal
vocational rehabilitation
funds enabled Murphey to
graduate from Blue Mountain
Community College in 1975
and Eastern Oregon State
College in 1977.
Murphey said she became
a licensed clinical social
worker, was a vocational
and educational counselor in
Pendleton and at 30 had her
only daughter.
“Because in life I had more
than my share of ‘15 minutes
of fame’, then I was gifted
with the most amazing, musi-
cally gifted daughter, Jaclyn
Penner Sites,” she said. “She
goes by Jacie. My brother,
cowboy Dave Murphey, and
his then wife Bobbie Beers,
along with a couple in Cali-
fornia, started the WSRRA.”
Jacie is a championship
fi ddler, living in Idaho. The
Western States Ranch Rodeo
Association allows every-
day, working cowboys and
cowgirls to compete in sanc-
tioned ranch rodeo events.
Murphey said she looks
back on her life with satisfac-
tion.
“I did not waste or throw
away my life,” she said. “I
do not drink, do drugs or
gamble. I was born a child of
God, and try to live my life
the way Jesus and my mom
… and her mom taught me.
Kindness, compassion, empa-
thy, caring about my fellow
man and women, helping my
neighbors, giving back and
now paying it forward. Every
human and animal on Earth
is important to me, no matter
how insignifi cant others fi nd
them. My personal life is a
mystery to most, because
that is the way I want it to
be. Gossip and bad talk hurt
people. If I have nothing good
to say about a person, I just do
not say anything at all.”
Murphey’s husband, Art
Merriman Jr., died in 2018.
“I have had just the most
wonderful and amazing
life,” she concluded. “I am
not running for any elected
offi ce, maybe town crier or
most loved and respected
woman in town. I’m amazed
at all the people I’ve been able
to help and all the rock solid
work I’ve done. I’ve gone
from the poor farm to a feder-
ally certifi ed attorney.”
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