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Wallowa.com
100 Years:
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squawked and didn’t have
much fun,” Liza Jane said.
“But now you’re going to
face that fear.”
“That’s one thing I’m
going to do before I die,”
Wanda said.
Journalist and teacher
“Then Dad got a job in
Redmond and had a small
farm behind a reindeer
ranch,” Liza Jane recalled.
That’s where Wanda
obtained her teaching certifi -
cation — no small feat while
raising fi ve kids.
She also continued her
journalism career, in Cor-
vallis; McMinnville; Hel-
ena, Montana; and at the
Muscatine (Iowa) Journal
for two years where she was
publisher.
She particularly enjoyed
her time in Helena.
“I had a really good time
there,” she said. “I liked it.
I liked the people. And then
they jerked me back.”
During her journalis-
tic career, Wanda repeatedly
won awards at the national,
state and local levels. In June
1981, she was listed as one
of Oregon’s most powerful
women in the Oregon Maga-
zine as the sole woman daily
newspaper editor at the time.
She was the fi rst woman
elected as the president of the
Oregon Association of Press
Executives. In 1988, she won
the Oregon Newspaper Pub-
lisher’s Association’s highest
honor, the Amos E. Voorhies
Award, at the time just the
second female winner since
the award was established in
1938.
She also got to interview
some big names in history,
such as President Richard
Nixon and longtime Secre-
tary of State Henry Kissinger.
“You told me about
Henry Kissinger when you
interviewed him that he was
very charismatic,” Liza Jane
reminded her mother.
Wanda
remembered
Kissinger and Nixon, but not
the “charismatic” comment.
Liza Jane recalls her
mom’s fastidiousness and
attention to detail as a
journalist.
“I
remember
Mom
fact-checking
everything
before she’d let it go to
Boats:
Continued from Page A1
contingent upon having the
boats water-worthy.”
She said that ceremony
consists of a special fi nish to
the boats.
“You awaken the dragon
by painting its eye so he can
see on the water,” she said.
Turner said the plan is to
launch the boats at the gated
dock near the Wallowa Lake
Marina where the club has
two slips where the boats tie
up.
Racing and fi tness, too
The boats generally are
crewed by 22 people, who
sit in close quarters rowing.
Each boat has a helmsman to
steer and a caller who sets the
pace for the oarsmen. Smaller
dragon boats have 12-person
crews, Turner said.
The boats lift a bit out of
the water during the race,
which is a quick, one-minute
sprint. She said they race at
about 45 mph.
“The boat has to rise out
of the water and get to the
other end quickly,” she said.
“It’s quite a popular sport.”
The racing aspect of
dragon boats “burns a lot of
calories, like running fast,”
Turner said. “We’re hoping
to have involvement from
physical-fi tness trainers to
help improve not only our
physical bodies, but also our
paddling skills.”
But, she said, it’s not
all about racing. She said
Wallowa County Chieftain, File
A dragon boat paddles hard during the Dragons in the
Wallowas race in 2018. After being mothballed during the
COVID-19 pandemic, the dragon boats are being resurrected
this year.
dragon boat crews use not
only their arms to row, their
legs and hips get a workout,
too, as they twist and move
to use the oars.
“It has a lot of fi tness
eff ects,” she said. “This year
we’re more of a recreational
team and focusing more on
fi tness. There are several of
us who race. And use it as
practice.”
The club
Right now, the Dragons
on the Lake Paddle Club
only consists of three peo-
ple — Turner and co-presi-
dents Denny Kolb and Amy
Gulzow. They’re hoping to
get more members, particu-
larly as it takes about 12 peo-
ple to move each boat.
Turner said the boats are
owned by the Wallowa Lake
Tourism Association and in
order to use them and pay
for their upkeep, the Dragon
Boat Club has to form its
own 501(c)(3) group. They
also have to join the Pacifi c
Dragon Boat Association.
“That’s partly so those
members who want to race
with other clubs can do so,
but mostly because we get
a group rate for insurance
that specifi cally covers our
sport,” she said.
Other costs are associ-
ated, such as slip fees, life-
jackets, paddles, a place to
store the boats during the off -
season and other items.
But the big cost right now
is what she estimates will be
$1,200 to repair four of the
boats.
“We’d also like to plan for
upgrading equipment, every-
thing was pretty old when
they were fi rst acquired in
2016,” Turner said.
International concept
The dragon boat con-
cept came from China after
President Richard Nixon
reopened relations with the
communist country during
a visit in 1972, Turner said.
That led to a sister city rela-
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print,” she said. “I was shar-
ing some of my frustrations
with the media with her and
she said, ‘Well, maybe it’s
time for me to go back to
work.’ ”
Secret to a long life?
“You just go from day to
day and like people,” Wanda
said of her secret to living a
long life.
Another secret is having
fun at whatever’s she’s doing
— such as on the ranch.
“We had fun. I like ani-
mals, I really do. I like kids,”
she said.
She also remembered
more recent fun, such as
helping Liza Jane open the
farm stand outside their old
century farmhouse.
“That was fun,” she
said. “We did a lot of things
tionship between Portland
and Kaohsiung, Taiwan, in
1988, with one of the ben-
efi ts being the introduc-
tion of dragon boat-racing
to the United States. Thus
began the annual tradition
of the Portland Rose Festi-
val Dragon Boat Races on
the Willamette River each
June, hosted by the Port-
land-Kaohsiung
Sister
City Association.
Wednesday, May 4, 2022
A7
Wanda still has plans for
the future. Liza Jane prom-
ised her the summer after
she turns 100, she’d take her
mom camping.
But sleep on a cot or
a sleeping pad? Not for
Wanda.
“She wants to sleep on
the ground,” Liza Jane said.
“I sleep on a pad or in the
car.”
“She’s a sissy. It’s so nice,
to see the stars and smell the
grass and here she is in her
car,” Wanda said. “I like it to
be on the grass.”
She’s also going to tackle
her lifelong fear of horses.
“I’m still going to ride a
horse,” she asserted.
But most of all, it’s con-
tinuing to have fun.
“I’ll just go from day to
day and like people — and
smack Liza,” she said. “I
have fun.”
The international facet
also extends to Venice, Italy,
renowned for its canals
where the Vogalonga race is
held each year with a dragon
boat component. She said
she’s seen a photograph of
a dragon boat from Port-
land going under the famous
Bridge of Sighs in Venice.
“I would love to see a team
go from here,” Turner said.
“That’s my personal goal.”
Turner just might see
that goal come to fruition.
She emphasized that any-
one of any age can race.
“I’m 75 years old and
I can compete,” she said.
“I just want to make sure
people have the chance to
race.”
For more information,
contact Turner at 541-432-
1121 or dragonsonthelake-
paddleclub@gmail.com.
that were fun.”
Some of her most fun
experiences have been away
from home. Her travels have
taken her to Israel, Greece,
Turkey, Egypt, Costa Rica,
Thailand, India, San Juan
Islands, China, Tibet, Kiri-
bati in Oceania, Cook
Islands, The Galapagos off
Ecuador, Italy, Sicily, Belize,
Mexico’s Copper Canyon
and Australia. Also, in 1996,
she took a trip down the Col-
orado River and through the
Grand Canyon and in 2000,
took ski outings to Hoodoo
Ski Area near Sisters.
“I had a pretty good
time,” Wanda said.
Her second
hundred years?