To the
Fa
HAROLD A. COHN
The Heppner Gazette-Times
is very pleased to dedi
cate this Centennial edition to
all the pioneers whobuiltHep-
When the first phone went in, it took little more
than a coil of wire, a handful of screws and some
brave new ideas to be a telephone company.
It still takes new ideas. But with more than
2,000,000 Oregonians now linked with our world
wide communications network, telephone service
is still growing right along with Oregon.
This year we'll be spending ,some $90 million for
the specialized tools, sophisticated electronics, new
Pioneers
pner and Morrow County and
to their descendants and to
Harold A Conn, the onl) mem
ber of founder Henry Hepp
ner's family now living in
Heppner.
After the 1903 flood in which
the Pnil Cohn home was des
troyed, Henry Heppner pur
chased a house on Baltimore
St. from George Washington
Thompson into which the Phil
Cohn family moved. It is now
occupied by the LaVerne Van
Mirier Jr. family, and Har
old Cohn, the Phil Cohn's son,
lives in the newer home just
beyond it- and claims that
with 69 years residence, he
is undoubtedly the dean of
Baltimore St. Other children
of the Phil Culms are a son
Henry, living in Nevada, and
a daughter Elinor (Mrs. E.A.
In 1878 we gave
Shank) of West Linn, Or.
Young Harold had gone to
Boise to visit his grand
mother In June 1903 and
missed the big flood.
SOME COHN HISTORY
Harold was born In San
Francisco but has been a
resident here since he was
two weeks old. His paternal
grandmother, Elizabeth
Heppner Cohn of Boise, was
Henry's sister. Her sons,
Jerry and Phil, came to join
their Uncles Henry Heppner
and Henry Blackman soon
after the railroad reached
Heppner, when the Heppner
Blackman store and other
properties were so busy. Hir
old says Henry Heppner drove
in the golden spike when the
R.R. was completed to Hepp
ner. Harold remembers his
dad closing out his uncle's
estate after Henry's death
in 1905. Later, Phil Cohn
was the Morrow County Ford
Oregon a ring.
construction and talented people we need to provide
communications in the Age of Apollo.
We're proud to make a growing investment in a
growing state. You see, when we gave Oregon that
ring 92 years ago, it was just the beginning of a long,
long love affiiir.
Pacific
Motor Co. dealer for many
years.
HAROLD ENLISTED
Harold Cohn went through
the grade and high school
in Heppner, finishing in the
12-member class of 1912, the
last class from the old wooden
building up where the hospi
tal stands now. He recalls
community affairs in the
Robert's Opera House, the
hall above where Murrays'
Drug Store is now. The 1912
high school class play was
put on there. Harold attended
the Univ. of Oregon and the
Univ. of California but did
not graduate. Along with five
other county lads, he enlisted
in Portland in the Navy during
World War I-but never was
sent to sea. The others who
enlisted at that time were
Carl Rhea, Hurl Gurdane,
Sam Turner, Miles Potter,
and Sid Hallock.
Northwest Bell
RODEOS STARTED
L.V. Gentry got the annual
rodeos started in 1922 and
enlisted Harold Colin toad as
announcer. Harold used a
megaphone (no mike or am
liflers then.) The ranching
Gentrys were horse fanciers,
and they lived just east of
town where the Garnet Bar
ratts bouth in 1929.
Mr. Cohn married Helen
Ames of Ellensburg, Wa. in
1922, and their children are
Phil and Sally. In 1905 widow
er Cohn married a Yakima
widow, Mrs. Clara Flory, who
had been with the 1st Nat.
Bank of Commerce there for
45 years, and who died 'n
1970. Phil and his father
(Harold says one of them is
president) own and Phil man
ages the Suerior Packing Co.
at Ellensburg which is the
largest sheep killing altera
tion in the northwest. Around
1,000 sheep are killed daily
and every part of the ani
mals is utilized someway,
even the eyes. Sally Cohn,
who is visiting her father
this summer, has been teach
ing along the east coast, must
recently in the Brooklynarea
of New York City.
MEMORIES
As Harold Cohn chatted in
the shade of a large apri
cot tree in the back yard of
his home, he recalled many
items of interest. "That
tree was planted here in 1915
and has produced many tons
of apricots." We remarked
about the recovery of the old
millstone by O.W. Cutsforth,
and Harold said "I wonder
how many others remember
when the Heppner Flouring
Mill had an order to put up
flour for China, and the sacks
arrived with Chinese printing
on them."
He states that his time in
the community spans the per
iod from hitching posts to
parking meters. Remarking
about hitching posts led to the
recounting of an early-lay
summertime ritual, the daily
trips of the horse-drawn
sprinkling wagon which wet
down the fine dust that rose
from Heppner' s dirt streets.
A well-known member of
the Oregon Wool Growers
and the National Wool Grow
ers organizations since the
1930' s, Harold Cohn is a very
quiet, modest gentleman. He
claims he has not contributed
a great deal to the commun
ity "I've just lived here,
for quite a while".
CENTENNIAL IDEA
The idea of having a Centen
nial celebration for Heppner
came in a letter to the Ga-zatte-Times
in 1971 from
James D. 'Domie' Monahan,
son of Mr. and Mrs. Jim
Monahan. Domie is an attor
ney in Washington, D.C.
In his letter he suggested
that it was about time for
Heppner to have its Centen
nial. This alerted the Hepp-ner-Morrow
County Chamber
of Commerce and other or
ganizations here who have
ramrodded the event which is
being noted all year long by
various affairs.
To all visitors on this oc
casion everyone in Morrow
County says a big Welcome.