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E 19
138th Year, No. 6
Wednesday, June 22, 2022
WALLOWA.COM
Frazier to be grand marshal of July 4 parade
By JACK PARRY
Wallowa County Chieftain
Lexie
Canelli
Joseph
She had a fun
experience
seeing wolves
ENTERPRISE — Lexie Canelli
has only lived in Joseph for the
past fi ve years, but she grew up
here and moved away several
times.
“I’d move away and come back.
I’d move away and come back,” she
said.
She said the community and
the presence of family — her par-
ents — keeps bringing her back.
Not presently employed, she
spends much of her time at her
hobby of macramé — the art of
tying knots into patterns. She and
her boyfriend also like to drive
around in the mountains, some-
thing a bit hindered by the high
cost of gasoline.
“Right now, yeah, defi nitely,”
she said.
Her favorite thing about Wal-
lowa County is twofold.
“It’s a tossup between the peo-
ple — the friendliness of the peo-
ple — and the mountains,” she
said.
Not only does she enjoy see-
ing the majestic mountains
from town, Canelli enjoys seeing
wildlife.
“We just saw two wolves” on
a drive near Wallowa, she said. “It
was just running. Two weeks later,
we went up to the same area and
we saw an adult wolf and it was
running away. We drove up about
200 yards and there was a mama
elk with her little calf. I think we
scared it off from going after the
baby.”
Canelli is aware of the concern
ranchers have expressed about
wolves attacking their livestock.
“I’m not particularly fond of
the wolves. They’re fun to see just
because I’ve never seen one, but
with the ranchers and their cat-
tle, it’s their livelihood. I would be
(upset), too.”
With the Oregon Parks and
Recreation Commission in town,
she doesn’t have a lot she wants to
see them accomplish.
“A bike path all the way to the
lake would be nice,” she said. “It
gets kind of scary.”
When someone is considering
moving here, Canelli has mixed
feelings.
“Stay away so it stays small
and beautiful,” she said. “But also,
everybody’s businesses need the
service. Come visit, but don’t stay.”
— Bill Bradshaw,
Wallowa County Chieftain
WALLOWA − When it
comes to the annual Fourth
of July Parade in Wallowa,
Ruby Frazier has been an
ever-present onlooker of the
festivities throughout her 86
years living in the town.
“I’ve never missed any,”
Frazier said.
But for the fi rst time, she
will not be viewing the event
as a spectator. She has been
selected as the grand marshal
of the parade by City Hall.
Always looking on from
a parking spot at what used
to be JNS Automotive Ser-
vices, she has many fond
memories of the event over
the years, especially when it
involved her children.
“This motorcycle bunch
(of riders) went through, and
my oldest boy had a bicy-
cle,” she said. “He turned his
hat around backwards, and
rode down Main Street with
all those motorcycles on his
bicycle.”
She’s always admired the
amount of passion workers
put into the occasion, say-
ing, “Some of them they put
a little heart and soul into it,
(which) makes it good.”
As
someone
who
describes herself as a quiet
person, it wasn’t that shock-
ing how she reacted to
receiving the news.
“Total surprise; my fi rst
answer was no,” she said.
She didn’t think she
deserved it, something
that her daughter, Wendy
McDaniel,
vehemently
disagrees with.
“She’s one of these peo-
ple that always sits in the
background and does amaz-
ing things,” McDaniel said.
Despite Ruby’s nervous-
ness when it comes to the
parade, her soft-spoken per-
sonality doesn’t take away
from the important role she
has played in her family
and the community. Hav-
ing raised six children in
Wallowa, she devoted a lot
of time and energy to their
upbringing.
“Somebody asked me if I
raised a garden, and I said no
I can’t keep up with my kids
let alone a garden.” she said.
When it came to her kids,
Frazier always emphasized
fi nishing high school even
though she didn’t graduate
herself. Using her degree in
“good common sense,” she
would reiterate this mes-
sage to each of her sons and
daughters.
“If you’ll just stay in
school until you’re 18, what-
ever you do with your life
after that is yours,” she said.
“But do it well.”
Working 20 years at the
Wallowa County Memo-
rial Hospital before retir-
ing, the 90-year-old Fra-
zier now enjoys the quiet of
town and makes sure to keep
up with the lives of her 10
grandchildren and fi ve great
grandchildren.
Looking ahead to Inde-
pendence Day, a very patri-
otic Frazier hopes that she
will be ready to participate in
the parade.
“If I can get over this ner-
vousness, I’ll be fi ne,” she
said.
ENTERPRISE ELEMENTARY
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
Mac Freeborn, left, manager of Wallowa Lake State Park, shows members of the Oregon State Parks and
Recreation Commission a parcel of land Tuesday, June 14, 2022, that the commission is considering for purchase
during its meeting in Wallowa County.
Parks commission
tours Wallowa Lake
Talks events
center, access;
hears comments
By JACK PARRY
Wallowa County Chieftain
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
Mac Freeborn, manager of Wallowa Lake State Park, talks about a planned
events center at the marina before the Oregon State Parks and Recreation
Commission on Tuesday, June 14, 2022, during the commission’s meeting
in Wallowa County.
Seeing the sights
The commission started its gath-
ering earlier in the week with a trip
up the Wallowa Lake Tramway
hosted by co-owner Mike Lockhart.
That gave him a chance to discuss
issues he believes are important for
See Parks, Page A7
After 38
years, Fischer
says farewell
to teaching
Passion for job key to
teaching students
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
WALLOWA COUNTY —
Getting back to normal after the
COVID-19 pandemic, the Oregon
Parks and Recreation Commis-
sion held its fi rst meeting in person
last week, and it came to Wallowa
County to do so.
“This is the fi rst time they’ve
seen each other face-to-face in two
years,” said Chris Havel, deputy
director and commission spokes-
man in an interview Wednesday,
June 15.
Havel said they chose Wallowa
County for a couple of reasons. He
said they wanted to bid farewell
to outgoing Commissioner Lisa
Dawson of Enterprise, whose term
ended with the meeting. Also, they
plan to hold the next meeting on
the coast and wanted to take a trip
to Northeast Oregon. The commis-
sion meets fi ve times a year, Havel
said.
“For the people who have never
been here before, we tend to hear
the same thing, which is ‘Wow’
and ‘This is a part of Oregon I’ve
always wanted to see,’” he said.
Agency Director Lisa Sumption
expressed her pleasure with Wal-
lowa County after the meeting.
“You have some of the most
incredible scenery and humans
here,” she said.
Vikki Olsen/Contributed Photo
Lorri Fischer holds a bouquet
presented on her last day of
teaching at Enterprise Elementary
School. She has retired after 38
years in the classroom.
Wallowa County Chieftain, File
Mike Lockhart, co-owner of the century-plus-year-old Edelweiss Inn,
stands before the dilapidated building in 2019. It once was the venue for
a variety of events at Wallowa Lake that may now fi nd a new home in an
events center planned for the state park.
ENTERPRISE — Lorri Birk-
maier Fischer fi rst walked into
Enterprise Elementary School as a
young girl with a knack for read-
ing and writing. She liked school so
much she would teach her younger
brother, Tommy, lessons of her
choice when she had the chance.
After graduating from Eastern
Oregon University with a degree in
elementary education and a reading
endorsement in 1981, Fischer would
return to Enterprise Elementary as
an educator in 1984. The principal at
the time, Bob Eddy, gave her quite
simple instructions to start.
“He threw me into a room and
said, ‘Teach!’”
Now, 38 years later, Fischer is
putting down the chalk and eraser
following a career teaching students
from fourth through eighth grade.
It was a decision based on the need
to be there more for her family, of
which she has two daughters and
four grandchildren.
“I always say that you are
replaceable at work, but irreplace-
able within your family,” she said.
Throughout her career, Fischer
prided herself on lesson plans that
made it fun for students to learn.
Her classes have shot themed
movies about the 100-year anniver-
sary of the school and Lewis and
Clark to name a few. Most recently,
she brought her fi fth-grade class to
the Wallowa County Museum in
Joseph to donate an antique dress
and a stack of old Wallowa County
Chieftains along with her daughter,
See Teacher, Page A7