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Heppner's Carmen Healy becomes U.S. citizen
HEPPNER
50 <
imes
VOL. 115
NO. 12
8 Pages Wednesday, March 20, 1996,
Morrow County Heppner, Oregon
Kris C h ro nic turns on th e speed as the B u c k n u m ’s T av ern entry in the St. P a tty’s D ay B a rte n d e r’s
R a ce. T h e race w as won by Y a w s R estau ran t.
M o re p h o to s -p a g e 3
Ballot counting machine in use
M orrow C o unty C le rk B arb ara Bloodsw orth (left) and staff, D e n is e B etsinger and Sh irley M cC arl,
certify the new county ballot-counting m ach in e prior to th e election held M arch 12.
Barbara Bloodsworth, Mor
row County Clerk, said that the
new machine, the OPTECH II
Eagle Counting Machine, will
simplify and speed up the
ballot counting process.
Bloodsworth said that ballots
are fed into the machine by
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hand, but that the machine
tallies the votes in around 10
minutes. She said that pre
viously the counting board has
sometimes had to stay until 6
a.m. counting ballots.
In addition to counting votes,
the machine breaks down the
votes by precinct. "The only
M è
thing we'll have to do is add
the precincts together (to arrive
at city tallies)," said Bloods
worth. She added that Morrow
County was the "last of four or
five counties in the state" still
hand counting ballots.
The machine is tested prior to
each election.
B y A p ril H ilto n -S y k e s
Carmen Healy's flag is still
red, white and blue, but she's
a citizen of a new country now.
Carmen, who lives in Hepp
ner, became a U.S. citizen Fri
day, March 15, at a ceremony
in Portland, accompanied by
her husband, Jerry, children,
Joseph, Jonas and Janelle, and
friend Vicky Broden, also of
Heppner.
Carmen's long journey to
U.S. citizenship began in the
small town of Villa Trina in The
Dominican Republic where she
was born on July 15, 1953, to
Nicolas and Leonora Tineo.
Villa Trina has a population
around the size of Heppner in
an area around the size of lone.
The Dominican Republic is
about two and a half hours
from Florida and shares the
stand with Haiti. The flag of
rhe Dominican Republic is also
red, white and blue.
C arm en's father was a
farmer, raising cows, pigs and
coffee. Her mother was a
homemaker. Carmen was the
youngest of the family, with
eight older brothers and five
older sisters.
Carm en's life changed
dramatically in 1975. She was
living with her brother in La
Vega, a larger city about 20
miles from Villa Trina, where
she was attending business
school. During Holy Week that
year, she traveled home to visit
a sister who lived in Villa Trina.
In The Dominican Republic,
not many people own cars and
car pooling is common. So, on
her trip back to the city, one of
her traveling companions was
a handsome young man from
the U.S., Jerry Healy.
Jerry, then 25, was working
in The Dominican Republic in
a coffee cooperative in Villa
Trina through the Peace Corps.
But, by the end of March, the
coffee harvest was over and his
job ended. He was in the pro
cess of moving to a regional
cooperative, kind ot a combina
t i o n rice co-op, grocery store co
op and savings and loan co-op
at La Vega.
Conveniently for Jerry,
Carmen, only 22 and exotical-
ly beautiful, lived only about
three blocks from Jerry's office
in La Vega.
"H e didn't speak much
Spanish," said Carmen. But
somehow the couple managed
to communicate, because they
fell in love. After a whirlwind
courtship, Jerry and Carmen
were married in October, 1975,
at Nuestra Señora del Carmen
Catholic Church in Villa Trina.
"Before we got married, I told
him he would have to talk to
my dad," laughed Carmen. " I
was really nervous," added
Jerry.
" I didn't know Jerry was
Catholic then," said Carmen.
"I just thought we were getting
married in the Catholic Church
because of my family." All of
Carmen's big family, except for
a brother living in New York,
attended the wedding and a lot
of Jerry's Peace Corps friends
also came. Jerry's parents,
Gwen and Jack Healy, travel
ed all the way from Heppner to
be there, as did his friend, Mike
Smith. Jerry's sister, Jean
Marie, who had visited while
Carmen and Jerry were dating,
also came for the ceremony.
Ironically, the priest who
married them was from
Oregon, but he had been in
The Dominican Republic so
long, he spoke better Spanish
than English.
During Jerry's stay in The
Dominican Republic he had
become quite ill. He had lost a
great deal of weight and was
down to around 140 pounds.
He had a very high fever and
the doctors at one point
thought he had contracted
typhoid fever. They finally
Jerry and C a rm en H ealy, 1975
determined that he didn't have
typhoid, but never discovered
what was making him ill. His
illness cut short his stint with
the Peace Corps.
Shortly after their marriage
Carmen also began feeling ill
and they thought perhaps she,
too, had contracted something.
Her illness, however, was of
the nine-month variety. Happi
ly, they later discovered that
she was going to have a baby.
Carmen and Jerry, suspec
ting that she might be preg
nant, decided to move to the
U.S. where there is better
medical care. After a visit to
Washington, D.C., New York
and a couple weeks in Hepp
ner, Carmen, then two and a
half months pregnant, and
Jerry moved to Portland. He
got a job as assistant manager
of a Pietro's Pizza and Carmen
attended Portland Community
to study English. After six
months they moved to Van
couver, WA.
" I didn't know what to
think," said Carmen of her
new home in the U.S. "I just
knew I was very far from home
and it was very hard. I was
really lonely. My mom and I
had been really close because I
was the youngest and the last
to leave home. I wrote letters
probably every day to my
brothers and sisters and nieces
and nephews. Now I probably
write twice a year."
" I was very honored that
Jerry's family welcomed me in
to their family," said Carmen.
"They were really my family
because my own family was so
far away."
After the Healys' firstborn,
Joseph, arrived in October of
1976, Carmen didn't have
much time to be homesick.
When Joseph was six months
old, they traveled back to
Carmen's home so her family
could meet the baby. When
they returned, Jerry quit his job
at Pietro's and began working
for his uncle, Harry O'Donnell,
at Morrow County Abstract
and Title (MCAT) in Heppner.
Harry had built MCAT, which
was in the family for 50 years
until it was sold to current
owner, Tom McElligott. Jerry is
now employed as office
manager at Columbia Basin
Electric Co-op.
When Joseph was three and
a half, Carmen went to work at
Central Market in Heppner,
which was owned by Ernie
McCabe and his partner and
still owner, Forrie Burken-
bine."
While the English classes at
PCC weren't very effective,
Carmen says that working at
the grocery store was "really
good practice".
"It was pretty scary to go to
work not knowing the lan
guage," said Carmen. "But
everyone was really nice to me
and they helped me. Everyone
was pretty nice, really friend
ly ."
Carmen thought then about
becoming a U.S. citizen, but
C a rm e n H e aly
she believed that it was neces
sary to live in the country five
years before applying for
citizenship. She later discover
ed that it was only three.
But, after a year and a half,
Carmen became pregnant with
her second son, Jonas, who
was born in July of 1980. Their
daughter, Janelle, came along
in September of 1981. For many
years Carmen had her hands
full running a home, taking
care of three kids and return
ing to work at Central Market.
She just didn't have the time to
even think about becoming a
citizen.
Last year, however, while
she was in Florida, she helped
her niece fill out an application
for citizenship. Carmen's niece
had two copies of the papers,
so Carmen brought home the
second set to fill out for herself.
She sent the application to im
migration in December of 1995
and they set a date in January
for her to take her test. The
Healys traveled on ice all the
way to Portland, but, on her
first try, Carmen wasn't able to
pass. "It was really hard," said
Carmen. "It was a lot harder
than I thought." "Most people
who were bom in the U.S.
couldn't pass it," added Jerry.
Now determined, Carmen
scheduled another test for Feb.
27. This time, Jerry taped 100
sample questions and answers.
Carmen studied while she was
doing the dishes, cooking din
ner and traveling to their kids'
numerous basketball games.
This time, not only did she
pass, but she scored 100 per
cent. She even passed a trick
question, said Jerry, which ask
ed who the mayor was. Ob
viously they were seeking the
name of the mayor of Portland
(Vera Katz), not the mayor of
Heppner (Bob Jepsen).
When Carmen returned from
Portland, her friends showered
her with flowers, balloons and
gifts. "Everyone was really ex
cited for m e," said Carmen. "I
want to thank every for being
so nice. My bosses (Forrie and
Gail Burkenbine) were really
great."
Although Carmen is an
American citizen now, speaks
the language excellently and is
completely assimilated to life in
the U.S., there is one thing that
she will never get used to—the
weather. " I still dress in
layers," laughs Carmen.
SPRING FENCING SALE
G reat Buys on Fencing
through March 30
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Morrow County Grain Growers
Lexington 989-8221
1-800-452-7396
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