INSIDE
MERRY CHRISTMAS
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137th Year, No. 37
Wednesday, December 22, 2021
WALLOWA.COM
First Christmas revisited
Enterprise church performs live Nativity
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
Rance
Morrison
Joseph
Snowstorm
reminds him
of Alaska
JOSEPH — Rance Morrison found last
week’s snowfall a bit reminiscent of living
in Alaska, where he moved from nearly 16
years ago.
He and his wife, Gail, are retired. Mor-
rison spends much of his retirement time
restoring old cars and pickups. At present,
he’s working on a 1932 Ford pickup.
“Good parts can be hard to get,” he said.
Morrison said they moved here to
come south to where they could be closer
to family.
He recently shared his thoughts about
living in Wallowa County.
What’s your favorite thing about
Wallowa County?
The mountains and the natural beauty.
What does Christmas mean to
you?
Family and just trying to remember
that we’re a united nation and we need to
love each other no matter what our politi-
cal affi liations are.
Do you have a favorite Christmas
song?
I don’t have a favorite. I like them all.
Tell me about your Christmas
traditions.
When our kids were little, we’d open
one present the night before and told them
they’d have to wait until morning for the
rest. My wife decorates really well, so the
house will always be Christmassy. When we
lived in Alaska, we had a cabin with a wood
stove and she had this big pot she’d put
water in and cut spruce boughs and put
them in the water and let them cook in that
pot all day. It would smell really good.
What do you think of last night’s
snowfall (Dec. 13-14)?
It reminded me of Alaska a little. This
much snow all at one time is more like
when I lived in Homer (on the coast south
of Anchorage). I spent 16 years out in the
Aleutians and we would get some huge
dumps of snow and it would be above
30 degrees because it’s pretty far west
and it wasn’t nearly as cold as here, so we
wouldn’t get the coldness associated with
the snow. It would usually snow and then
rain.
What’s your advice for people who
are thinking about moving here?
There are certain things you don’t have
here. You don’t have the choices for grocer-
ies and stuff like that. You should know that
and be aware of the things you’re going to
give up and the things you’re going to gain
and fi gure out if it’s something you want to
do or not.
— Bill Bradshaw,
Wallowa County Chieftain
E
NTERPRISE — It
was in a small town
about the size of Los-
tine when, in about 4
B.C. the long-prophe-
sied Messiah of Israel
was born in Bethlehem
of Judea, an event reenacted in
Enterprise this year by the local
Seventh-day Adventist Church.
This was the second year the
church has put on the live Nativ-
ity pageant, welcoming all com-
ers to watch church members
reenact that fi rst Christmas at the
Wallowa Valley Eye Care Clinic
on North Street. The event not
only included the pageant, but
live music, an invitation for spec-
tators to join in Christmas carols
and hot chocolate and treats. Pas-
tor David Ballard, who served as
narrator, also mentioned they’d
accept donations that would go
to Community Connection.
While hustling about making
sure all the actors were in cos-
tume, Janice Bailey, personal
ministries leader at the church
who was in charge of the produc-
tion, found a similarity in her pro-
duction and the fi rst Christmas.
“God’s working miracles,”
she said. “We had several sick
people and in the last hour we’ve
gotten stand-ins, so it’s awe-
some. They may be reading, but
that’s OK. By tomorrow night,
they’ll be pros.”
The pageant was held in
four, half-hour productions on
both Saturday and Sunday, Dec.
18-19.
The actors, to a person, found
their participation an honor and
humbling.
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
The Magi, at left, bring gifts to the newborn baby Jesus and his parents as the shepherds watch at right
during the fi rst night of the live Nativity reenactment by the Enterprise Seventh-day Adventist Church
outside Wallowa Valley Eye Care on Saturday, Dec. 18, 2021.
Joseph and Mary
Although the Bible doesn’t
say, scholars believe Mary was
likely in her teens when she
became a mother.
Brendy Lindsay, who por-
trayed Mary, agreed that it
must’ve been an amazing experi-
ence for a young Jewish girl.
“I agree with what the Bible
says, and it’s humbling to play
her part,” Lindsay said. “God
worked through her in an amaz-
ing way to bring Jesus into the
world. It’s just really humbling
to play the part.”
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
Shepherds — among the lowest of the low in fi rst-century Jewish
society — were the fi rst to hear of the birth of the Messiah. These
shepherds and their sheep reenacted their reaction during the
fi rst night of the live Nativity presentation put on by the Enterprise
Seventh-day Adventist Church outside Wallowa Valley Eye Care on
Saturday, Dec. 18, 2021.
Wondering how she’d react
in a conservative society as she
turned up pregnant in such a
mysterious way, she pondered
how she’d explain it to her par-
ents and to her betrothed, Joseph.
After all, her virginity was essen-
tial to her standing in the Jewish
community. By law, she could’ve
been stoned as an adulteress.
“It would be nerve-wrack-
ing,” Lindsay said. “I think God
gave her the courage to (deal
with it.) It’s unreal.”
She also found Mary’s other
experiences “unreal,” such as
when she went to visit her rel-
ative, Elizabeth, who in her old
age became pregnant with a son
who would be John the Bap-
tist, the forerunner of the Mes-
siah. The Bible tells us that as
Mary arrived at Elizabeth’s
home, Elizabeth’s child — about
six months further along than
Mary’s — leaped in her womb.
Elizabeth said, Scripture says,
that she felt blessed to be visited
by “the mother of our Lord.”
“I think it’s totally cool
because it shows that God spoke
to all these people and God used
all these people and they didn’t
even talk to each other because
they were so far away,” Lindsay
said. “It’s amazing.”
But how about telling Joseph?
Scripture says he was a godly
man, devoted to the Law of
Moses, so he didn’t feel right
about marrying a woman preg-
nant with a child that wasn’t
his. But he loved Mary and
didn’t want to shame her pub-
licly. Joseph’s initial plan was to
divorce her privately.
Dave Brandt, who portrayed
See Nativity, Page A5
Construction bid for Wallowa clinic approved Near-record
snow falls
WALLOWA — Local con-
in Joseph
struction company Wellens Gen-
Chieftain staff
eral Contractors had its bid to
complete the remodel of the for-
mer Fox Archery location in Wal-
lowa into the new location of the
town’s Wallowa Memorial Medi-
cal Clinic accepted by the Wallowa
County Health Care District Board
of Trustees.
The approval, voted on Mon-
day, Dec. 13, was announced Mon-
day, Dec. 20.
“The people of Wallowa deserve
to have a premier clinic that does
not require an hour round-trip trek
to garner health care services.”
Wallowa Memorial Hospital CEO
Larry Davy said in a press release.
“It is our mission to provide pre-
mier care to the residents of Wal-
lowa County. A professional clinic
in Wallowa is the next piece in
delivering on that mission. We
are so thankful for the communi-
ty’s support and the approval of the
board.”
According to the release from
Wallowa Memorial Hospital and
Clinics, the approval of the bid is
NWS records 14
inches in the town,
most ever in one
day in December
By RONALD BOND
Wallowa County Chieftain
Wallowa Memorial Hospital and Clinics/Contributed Graphic
Shown is a model of what the new Wallowa Memorial Medical Clinic —
Wallowa location will look like once it is complete.
the next step in getting the roughly
$3 million project going.
“Today was a monumental
win for the citizens of the lower
valley who have been without a
full-service medical clinic for the
last decade. We couldn’t be more
excited to bring consistent, qual-
ity care back to the people of Wal-
lowa,” said Nancy Crenshaw, a
Wallowa resident and Health Care
District Board member since 2018.
The new clinic, which is on
track to open sometime in 2022,
will be a state-of-the-art clinic
similar to the one recently built in
Joseph. The roughly 5,400-square-
foot building will have six exam
rooms, a behavioral health room, a
community conference room and a
physical therapy room. The clinic
will be open fi ve days a week.
The purchase of the former Fox
Archery location, at 701 W. High-
way 82, was completed in July of
this year.
JOSEPH — One of the
snowiest days on record in
Joseph occurred last week,
according to data from the
National Weather Service’s
Pendleton offi ce.
While totals of up to 2 feet
of snow were reported in some
areas around the town on Tues-
day, Dec. 14, the NWS offi cially
recorded 14 inches of snow. It
marks not only the most snow
ever recorded on Dec. 14, but
the most anytime in December
and ties for the second-highest
See Snow, Page A5