Edition M orrow County Fair & R odeo • Heppner Gazette-Tim es, W ednesday, A ugust 9, 2000
Dorris Graves 2000 Fair and Rodeo Grand Marshal
therefore the Wilcox girls were cars at the depot and "wheeled"
natural candidates for rodeo motorized equipment to the
royalty roles. A sister, Eva service shed.
Wilcox-Brosten, now deceased,
When the war ended the family
was the 1929 Heppner Rodeo returned to Morrow County
Queen and Dorris and Kay where they raised wheat and
Bisbee were her princesses.
shorthorn cattle for 10 years
Dorris and John Graves were while ranching in the Sandhollow
married at lone in 1928, just area.
They
rejoined
the
before the "boom and bust" years Lexington Grange and led 4-H
and the Great Depression. They clubs. John was superintendent
farmed in the Heppner area when of beef cattle at the fair and
"sheep skin" script was used as Dorris was superintendent of
local, legal tender when the different
home
economic
banks closed. Teachers were paid departments during fairs. Like
by script which could be sold to their mother, daughters JoAnne,
money lenders at a 10 percent Betty and Rieta were Fair and
discount. Of necessity, most R o d e o
princesses
Dorris Graves
families like the Graves had to (representatives
from
the
By Merlyn Robinson
depend largely on home-grown Lexington Grange) during the
Appropnately selected for the food produced from gardens, middle 1940s and into the 1950s.
year 2000 is the Morrow County milk cows, chickens and farm Their son, Deane, and their girls
Fair and Oregon Trail Pro Rodeo animals. Dorris recalls the were active 4-H participants.
Grand Marshal Dorns Graves, a drought years that reduced wheat
Along with her commitment to
descendant of Oregon Trail yields to the point where 10 Home Extension, 4-H and school
pioneers.
bushels per acre was considered activities, Dorris was an active
Her lifetime of many a good crop. In some fields, participant in the agendas of the
accomplishments in agriculture rodents harvested what little Livestock Growers and the
and home economics fields is a gram did develop. Later here was CowBelles, helping to promote
lasting legacy that will J>e also a Morman cricket invasion beef. She also worked on farm
remembered as striving to that worked their way southward programs to further Soil and
improve rural lifestyles and into what fields, stripping Water Conservation practices.
preserving a way of life that vegetation as they came.
She joined the "Association of
stems from her pioneering
She also recalls when public County Women of the World" to
heritage.
works programs began in the gain in-depth knowledge about
Dorns, the third child of Robert 1930s. The Civilian Conservation agriculture in other parts of the
Wilcox and Ethel Eskelson- Corps gave unemployed young world.
Wilcox, was bom in Morrow men, mostly from large cities in
In 1954 the family purchased a
County, January 1, 1911, near the past, jobs at low wages. At cattle and wheat ranch on Rock
Willow
Creek
close
to Heppner they were stationed in Creek near Hardman that
Lexington. In 1915 the family barracks buildings located on the continues to be managed by her
moved to Oakland, Oregon, near present fairgrounds. These men
grandsons and families. Always
the Calapooyia River for a year worked
at
conservation
the busy person, she continued
before relocating at Klamath measures, building dams and
working
with Home Extension,
Falls. She was indoctrinated into cleaning creek charnels to
4-H
,
the
Wheat Growers,
a rural, 4-H way of life at an prevent flooding as well as
CowBelles,
the
Rhea Creek
early age by parents that were working on mountain projects.
Grange
and
the
fair
and rodeo.
active 4-H leaders.
When WWII boosted the John Graves was the recipient of
The Wilcox family returned to slowly recovering economy in
the Willow Creek ranch in the 1940s the Graves family numerous awards from the
Wheat
League,
Livestock
Morrow County when Dorris was moved to Hermiston. John was a
Growers and the Soil and Water
11 and 4-H continued to be an guard at the Umatilla Ordinance
Conservation agency, along with
important part of her growing-up
Depot dunng the war years. serving 12 years as a Morrow
years. She attended school at Dorris, who was still involved in
County Grain Growers board
Lexington,
playing
tennis, home extension and 4-H, joined
member. Unfortunately he passed
basketball and taking part in the Oregon Women's Ambulance away from a major heart attack
other school activities. Summers Corps and stayed on active duty in November 1965.
were spent herding cattle on until the end of the war. She
Doris never let her grief slow
horseback in Blue Mountains in drove fifth-wheel vans loaded •her down. She was appointed by
the Cutsforth Park area. Horses with bomb fins, transporting the Morrow County Court to the
were a part of her everyday life, them from the igloos to railroad County Planning Commission
prior to the passage of the land
use controls, serving in that
position for 12 years. She
received the "Women of the
Year" award in the 1970s and
received state and national
awards for her work in 4-H and
home extension. She served three
years as director of District 7 for
Home Extension at the state
level,
focusing
on
the
development of subject material
for county extension groups. As
one of four voting delegates from
Oregon to attend the triannual
meeting of Associated Country
Women of the World, she
traveled to Perth, Australia, for
the 1974 conference. As a home
extension member representing
land grant colleges in the United
States, she was a qualified voting
delegate on the board of The
United Nations.
Recognized for her dedication
to rural affairs, she was
appointed by Governor Tom
McCall to the Oregon State Soil
and Water Commission, holding
this position for eight years.
Adding to the jewels in her
crown, Dorns was honored with
the "Diamond Jubilee Pioneer"
award in 1984 by Oregon State
University. Without resting on
her laurels, she spent the 1980s
traveling the United States to
gam a broader prospective. Then
she decided to spend winter in
Mesa, Anzona, where she could
continue to play golf or billards,
pursue crafts or bask in the
sunshine.
She enjoys traveling back-
roads to visit national parks or
scenic sites when traveling south
in the fall and returns to her roots
in Morrow County for the
summers. Family has always had
top priority with Dorris and she
now enjoys her 12 grandchildren,
16 great-grandchildren and three
great, great "triple grand"
grandchildren.
"Hats O ff' to the 2000 Morrow
County Fair and Oregon Trail
Pro Rodeo Grand Marshal Dorris
Graves. Influenced by her
pioneering heritage she has
dedicated her life to improving
and preserving a rural lifestyle
for generations yet to come.
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