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Columbia Tri-County Babe Ruth
team wins first-ever district title
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Front l-r Rick Koffler, Chris Dickenson, Sam Sum ner, Tyler Fredrickson, Justin Meads, Brian Clubb,
Danny Verley, Tyson Pratt. Back: Russ Proctor, Marc Evans, Cody Sandlin, Jerid Wicklund, Jerem y
Jorstad, Keith Curnutt, Ron Prindle, Kevin Payne, Jim Tellechea.
azette
imes
VOL. 110
NO. 30
6 Pages Wednesday. July 24, 1991
Morrow County Heppner, Oregon
Columbia Tri-County, a combina
tion of 14 and 15-year old Babe Ruth
players from Heppner, Boardman,
Irrigon and Umatilla, captured the
district championship in Hood River
Tuesday, July 16 with a come-from-
behind, 5-4 win over The Dalles
Nationals.
The victory, the team’s fourth in
a row in the tournament, gives them
an entry into the North Oregon State
Tournament in West Linn July 25 to
July 30. Columbia Tri-County will
open the tournament on Thursday,
July 25 at at 5 p.m. against the disrict
Volunteers surprise Connor fam ily
ford. “ Everything was donated.”
“ When they told me they were go
ing to do this,” added Terry
McMichael, an X-ray technician for
Blue Mountain Diagnostics who oc
casionally covers PMH, “ I said
sure.”
The crew, which eventually
numbered around 50 people off and
on throughout the day, finally
finished painting around 7 p.m. Led
ford videotaped the progress so that
Roger would be able to see the day’s
activities from his hospital bed.
The next day was a busy one for
Yvonne, too, as she and her
daughters, Maryetta. Heppner, and
Carrie, Hillsboro, both of whom
were on the painting crew, and her
son and grandson attended the
McDaniels’ family reunion at Anson
Wright Park. Yvonne’s mother was
a McDaniel.
Roger and Yvonne were both bom
in Heppner-he in 1926 to Frank and
Gladys Connor in the house now
owned by Jay and Lori Straley, just
a block from where the Connors live
now: and she in 1930 to Carey and
Alice (McDaniel) Hastings at Dr.
McMurdo’s hospital, where Jeff and
Kathy Maben now live. Yvonne’s
mother was a part owner of Milady’s
dress shop located where the Shoe
Box is now. She has a sister, Clarice
Henry, who now lives in San An
tonio, Texas. Roger had two
brothers. Skip, who lives in Stan
field, and Wendell, who has passed
away.
Roger and Yvonne were raised in
the Heppner area and were married
V o lu n tee rs scrap e the C o nnor h o m e in p reparation for painting
Yvonne Connor doesn't like to
leave the side of her husband. Roger,
who is seriously ill with cancer at
Pioneer Memorial Hospital in Hepp
ner. But, on Saturday, July 21, she
was finally persuaded to take a little
drive into the mountains, which she
loves, with her son, Jon and grand
son Kyle, 6, of Hillsboro.
And while she was away, the elves
did play. The “ elves” were a group
of well-wishers who concocted a
scheme to paint the Connors' home.
Around 20 people, headed up by
Debra Ledford, X-ray technician at
PMH, showed up at the house at 10
a m. Saturday, armed with brushes,
scrapers and ladders, just barely
missing Yvonne as she was being
wisked away. “ I saw Trish Sweeney
circling the block twice,” said
Yvonne later, “ but 1 thought she was
just looking for her little boy.”
After scraping, taping windows
and doors, trying to unclog two paint
sprayers and finally finding a noz
zle for a third, the elves painted the
Connors' small single story home a
sparkling white.
Yvonne arrived home around 3
p.m. before the painting crew had
completely finished. “ I saw all the
people at the house and 1 asked Jon
what in the world had happened,”
said Yvonne “ When he told me
what was going on I cried.” They
had to circle the block twice too, so
Yvonne could compose herself. The
project was especially meaningful,
because Roger had told hospital
employees that he was concerned
because he wouldn’t be able to paint
the house.
Many of the helpers were PMH
employees, but many others donated
time, equipment and supplies. “ It
was a community effort," said Led
on June 6, 1948, at the home of
Roger’s folks. Daughter Maryetta
was bom in Heppner and son Jon,
in Pendleton, because the new
hospital was not yet open.
While in Heppner Yvonne work
ed for Dr. Jack Woodhall as a den
tal assistant and Roger worked first
for Bill Collins cleaners and then for
Tommy Howell’s meat market,
before the family moved to Hood
River where he worked at a meat
counter. Their daughter Carrie was
bom in Hood River. The Con
nors then moved to Forest Grove,
where Roger worked at Safeway and
then in the meat departments of dif
ferent grocery stores in the Portland
area. Yvonne worked for 16 years
as a dental assistant for Dr. George
Williams.
In 1979, they sold their home in
Forest Grove and moved to Lytle,
Texas, where they had a grocery
store. They came back to Oregon,
however, and Roger worked for a
meat packing house in Hillsboro
before retiring in 1988. In 1989 they
bought their house in Heppner, so
that they could be closer to Roger’s
mother following the death of his
father. Shortly after that, however,
Roger became ill. Maryetta moved
back to Heppner from San Antonio,
Texas, in August of 1990 to help out
her folks. She is employed as a cer
tified nurses’s aide at PMH. She has
three children, Pauline. 20, Mary 19
and Corey 14. Jon has two sons,
Kyle and Kevin, 9.
Before he became ill. Roger drove
the Heppner Senior Citizen bus. The
couple has been active in the com
munity support group, which pro
vides emotional support for those
with illnesses or other needs.
Yvonne says that in addition to the
help they received from the com
munity support group, Molly Rhea,
Home Health Nurse, provided in-
home medical support and services
and the American Cancer Society
provided Roger with a wheelchair.
Bonna Rae Miller, local coordinator
for the Cancer Society, says that she
is involved with the “ Reach to
Recovery” program which offers
counseling and other help for
mastectomy patients. The society
also has a loan closet which loans out
wheelchairs, hospital beds and other
items needed for the sickroom.
Statewide, the society sponsors
Camp Can Do, a camp for children
with cancer, and Lamplighter, a sup
port group for parents of children
with cancer. Miller says that she
would be happy to answer questions
and head people in the right direc
tion. She says that there is also a
small cash reimbursement for peo
ple who must travel for cancer treat
ment. For more information contact
Miller at 676-5519.
The Community Support Group
meets the first Monday of the month.
The group's next meeting is Aug. 5
at All Saints Episcopal Church at 8
p.m. Call Merilee McDowell, group
organizer, 676-5238. for more
information.
The Home Health office is located
at Pioneer Memorial Hospital.
676-9133.
Fair tab deadline
Wed., July 31
The deadline for stories and adver
tisement to be included in the
Gazette-Times fair tab publication is
Wednesday. July 31.
The fair tab will be printed August
7.
winner form the LaGrande, Baker,
John Day area. A win will put them
into the winner's bracket Saturday at
4 p.m .; a loss will see them play Fri
day at 2 p.m. The tournament is a
double elimination affair.
The local Babe Ruthers opened the
district tournament in Hood River
July 20 against the Hood River
Americans and beat the Americans
badly, 14-4. Their next game pitted
them against the Hermiston Na
tionals. Columbia Tri-County open
ed an early lead and won 9-6. The
semifinal matchup was against a
cocky The Dalles National team.
The final score was 12-8 but the
game wasn’t that close. The Dalles
crawled back through the loser’s
bracket to face Columbia Tri-County
in the finals. The Dalles led, 4-3 go
ing into the sixth inning but the
champs scored single runs in the
sixth and seventh to clinch their first-
ever district crown.
M embers of the team are:
H eppner-K evin Payne, Sam
Sum ner, Rick K offler, Jim
Tellechea, Chris Dickenson and
Jerid Wicklund; Umatilla-Tyler
Fredrickson, Brian Clubb, Russell
Proctor and Jerem y Jorstad;
Boardman-Tyson Pratt and Justin
Meads; and Irrigon-Marc Evans,
Cody Sandlin and Danny Verley.
Coaches are Keith Curnutt,
Umatilla; Ron Prindle, Irrigon and
Rick Johnston, Heppner.
City hires engineer for pool problem
The Heppner City pool continues
to have problems with cloudy water,
which again necessitated its closure
the weekend of July 19 to 22. New
filters were installed at the pool Ju
ly 12, but, while they are helping,
they have not eliminated the problem
which has caused numerous pool
shutdowns this swimming season
and last.
City administrator Gary Marks
said that the city will now hire an
engineer to discover what’s wrong.
According to Marks, the engineer
will look at the pool equipment, pip
ing and water and will issue a report,
including what it will take to fix the
problem and how much it will cost.
The engineers, MFIA Incorporated,
will arrive in Heppner next week.
The new filters have slowed the
cloudiness somewhat-before they
were installed the pool took only
around three days to cloud up. The
pool had been in operation a week
with the new filters before
cloudiness forced a shutdown.
Marks said that an analysis of the
water has not helped in discovering
the cause.
“ We at the city appreciate the
public’s patience in this matter,”
said Marks, who commented that the
situation was “ difficult for
everyone.”
Couple honored in special
graduation ceremony
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L-R: M e la n ie , C a n d y K en an d M issy G a te s
A couple of 1991 graduates had
their graduation ceremony recently,
complete with caps and gowns,
diplomas, cake, gifts, cards and
well-wishers—at the R & W Drive In
in Heppner,
Ken and Candy Gates were
honored in a surprise ceremony Sun
day evening, July 21, to com
memorate their completion of their
GEDs (a high school equivalency
program).
Neither finished high school—
Candy. 39, would have graduated 22
years ago, in 1969 and Ken. 45,
would have graduated in 1964. 27
years ago.
The couple decided to complete
their GEDs at the urging of their
daughters, Melanie, 18, and Missy,
22, and Helen Riehl. R & W owner.
“ The kids insisted,” said Candy,
“ and Helen, she was the instigator.”
The high school equivalency pro
gram took the Gates five weeks.
“ We took a test a week,” said
Candy.
Do they think completing the pro
gram will change their life? “ It
already has,” said Cand\ “ It made
us feel good. We both feel like we
accomplished something I never
realized what it does for your self
confidence.”
Candy, the daughter of Ray and
Gaye Papineau. was raised in Lex
ington She is employed as a mail
carrier. Ken, who is retired because
of health reasons, was bom and rais
ed in Prairie City.
Community Bank,
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F.O.I.C.
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' ‘ Your Independent Home Owned Bank '
Arlington • Heppner • lone
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Not a Branch Office!
At a Community bank, you always have access
to top management No decisions are postponed
because of out of town control. We want to
serve you in every possible way because, when
you’re prosperous, so are we!
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We're a
Y v o n n e and R o g e r C o n n o r w ith d a u g h te r M a ry e tta
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