Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, June 29,2005 - FIVE
Dean Robinson named 1A athletic director of year
Artist designs Tupper T-shirt
Photo by Sandy Matthews
Madison Bailey, Heppner High School graduating senior and
counselor at the Tupper Outdoor School this spring, and
Jannie Allen, Heppner Elementary teacher and Tupper co
ordinator, model the Tupper T-shirt designed by artist
Vicente Navarette, nephew of Mary Ann Elguezabal, also a
Heppner Elementary teacher.
E
s
t a
t e
m
By DAVID S Y K E S
R EA LTO R
CURB APPEAL
Curb appeal is an often
overworked term when it
comes to selling a home, but a
house that is prepared success
fully will sell faster and for a
greater value than the one that
appears run down and in need
of work Just like dressing up
for a fancy dinner, the same
applies to a home when get
ting it ready to sell. That's not
to say that a complete facelift
needs to be done in order to
bring a good price. In most
instances, some very inexpen
sive but effective types of cos
metic improvements can make
a significant difference
Things like cutting and
trimming lawns, installing a
few well-placed plants, clean
ing out garages and closets,
eliminating clutter, painting
outside trim, shampooing car
pets. and cleaning or painting
some outside walls can go a
long way in presenting a home
in its most favorable light. I
can take an objective look at
a home and give advice on
what inexpensive touches
would help in dressing a home
for sale.
180 W. Baltimore #5
Heppner, OR 97836
SSW
Past Real Estate columns and
property listings are available
at m ' w ’ h '. heppner.net/heritage
Utage KundCo.
REALTOR H
541 676-9228
-
lon e Community
School’s athletic director,
Dean
Robinson, was
recently named Oregon 1A
Athletic Director o f the Year
Robinson was nominated for
the award by athletic
directors in the Big Sky
Conference and was selected
by an OSAA committee o f
athletic directors He was
honored and received a
plaque at the Oregon
A thletic
D irectors
Association banquet on April
25.
Robinson has taught
fifth through eighth grade
language arts and coached
middle school football and
track at lone since 1987 He
also coached middle school
and junior varsity b o y s’
basketball He has been an
Outdoor School teacher and
director and has served on
the lone Site Council He has
been middle school and high
school athletic director since
1997.
In 1999 Robinson
was selected Oregon
A thletic
C oaches
Association Middle School
Coach o f the Year He was
named Heppner Chamber of
Commerce Educator o f the
Year in 2000 and received
the Grant Rigby Memorial
Teacher o f the Year Award
at lone in 2002.
R o b i n s o n ’s
contributions to programs at
lone School have been
extraordinary, He helped to
expand the Cardinal Booster
Club from just supporting
athletics to focus on
academic needs as well He
helped raise funds for and
design the high school gym
remodel project He also
organized building a track
practice area. He brought
volleyball tournaments to
lone at the middle and high
school levels The annual
Basketball
Bonanza
Tournament
held
in
■YOU
START
CHILD'S
ALSO
LIFE.
December
is
largely
organized by Robinson He
was instrumental in starting
the recognition o f businesses
for their contributions to the
school. The booster club
now provides sack meals to
visiting teams thanks to
Robinson He is currently
establishing a Hall o f Fame
to recognize past athletes
and coaches from lone
“I am amazed at the
energy and devotion Dean
has to his many jobs. Dean
is the kind of athletic director
that will do everything he
cats to make the coaches’
jobs easier,” said head girls’
basketball coach, Ryan
Rudolf
“Working in a small,
State all star
baseball players
named
Jode Coil
Kory
Paullus
Nick
Christman
Josh Gutierrez
Jode Coil, a Heppner
High School senior, was
named to the 2A baseball all
star second team as an
infielder
Senior
Nick
Christman, lone, was named
to the third team utility.
Kory
Paullus,
outfield, and Josh Gutierrez,
designated hitter, both
Heppner seniors, received
honorable mention
OUT
TO C MANOE
AND
CHANGED
FIND
YOUR
YOU'VE
OWN."
l m SwMit k tsr tti <v,«uws»i VdSrt rj* C 45H hdva-rr
Like Lou. you can help «bused
and neglected children who ere
caught up in the compleeitie« ot
the court system Volunteer to
speek up tor a child m court.
As e CASA (Court Appointed
Special Advocate) o • Guardian
Ad Liten volunteer, your voice
can help these children tind a
saf*. permanent home where
they can thrive. Call us today
Morrow County
Juvenile Department
( 541 ) 676-5642
casa
lito#
til
A
rural school requires Dean to
wear many hats, which is not
a task many can do
successfully Just when I am
sure his plate is full, he will
volunteer td help with or
spearhead another project
for the betterment o f our
school and community,”
notes ISD Superintendent
Bryn Browning “Dean is a
high energy, extrem ely
positive person who believes
he can make a difference in
the lives o f each and every
one o f his students He is
completely committed to the
importance of education and
believes that all students
should have an opportunity
to achieve success whether
large or small.”
A view from the hill
by Doris Brosnan
Residents of Willow Creek Terrace look back on several
June activities with pleasure and can see that July is going to
hold some special events that will keep them busy.
In addition to their ongoing monthly activities -
including Bingo, crafts, games. O f Time Fiddlers’ music,
exercise classes, and weekend matinees - the group welcomed
three special June affairs.
Four residents traveled to Heppner Elementary School
in June, to see the mural painting on the gym wall The artist
who did that work was at Willow Creek Terrace in March to
give some art lessons to residents
The Lexington Rebekah Lodge and the Odd Fellows
Lodge hosted a salad dinner on June 16. Each person drew a
number from a hat and then sat at the corresponding number at
a table. In this way. the residents and hosts had an opportunity
to visit with some new faces, and the conversations seemed to
easily fill the evening
The Nazarene Church men s group hosted their second
annual Father 's Day barbecue on Saturday 18. treating the male
residents to hamburgers with all the fixin's and strawberry
shortcake for dessert
That dessert came from the strawberries that several
residents had pitched in to help the staff clean Most o f the
berries became freezer jam. some of which will be entered in the
Morrow County Fair
And speaking of "entering." several Terrace residents
will be making pies for the pie contest during ""Celebrate
Heppner ' Volunteers will be needed on July 28. to help those
bakers with their pie-making Any one willing to assist is asked
to notify George at 676-0004.
July 4 will find several residents in lone for that
community’s celebration and fireworks.
Celebration is a priority at Willow Creek Terrace, and
the staff and residents celebrated tw o birthday s as June turned
to July. Francis Circle is 97 yearsY)ld on June 30. and Lowell
Gribble will be 95 years old on July 2.
Francis was bom in Oklahoma to Delmer and Abby
Circle, a boy with three sisters. While he was yet a wee one. the
family moved to Kansas and then Oregon, first Eugene and then
Roseburg. But Francis started school in a small school about
seven miles from Wallace. Idaho. Soon the family was back in
Roseburg. then Portland, and then Battle Ground. Washington.
Francis remembers walking to school through areas with 10-
foot snow banks. Finishing the eighth grade. Francis opted to
get the rest of his education in the w ork-a-day w orld
He " ran away from home” to a farm about one mile
away There. Francis worked for $ 1 a day plus room and board,
mostly driving a team of mules. Not long after that, he
transferred that skill to the working of a team of six horses in
Astoria. For two seasons, he maneuvered one of two teams,
one at each end of the huge salmon net, to pull in the catch. He
later ran another team of horses on the Columbia for three
seasons
But logging was the industry luring Francis into his
future. His father taught him how to fall a tree, and he ended up
working with one partner he especially remembers for five years
near Riderwood. Washington Later. Francis turned to trucking
the logs and did so for 40 years The last five-year leg of his
career was spent with the Roseburg Lumber Company, where,
to the age of 72. he continued to drive a chip truck
During one of Francis’s visits to his parents’ place in
Battle Ground, he attended a country dance that Mary Louise
Higdon also attended One dance led to another, and soon the
couple wed, when Francis was 30 and Mary 20. They danced
on for another 60 y ears of life together, and they had two children
Mike continues to live, with his wife, on the farm that his parents
had before moving into a smaller facility. Monica and her
husband. Jim Swanson, live in lone, parents of Francis’s two
grandchildren
Lowell Gribble was also an only son. bom in Aurora.
Oregon, to Lane and Albertina Gribble. He had an older and a
y ounger sister. The family name still adorns a few locations in
the area.
Lowell attended high school in Woodbum and served
as the school bus driver for his area at the age o f 16. He then
went on to Willamette University in Salem While there for two
years, he sometimes went to the Elsinore Theater, just down
State Street One little usher often showed him to a seat, and
one evening she asked if he would prefer a seat in the more
expensive loge section, though his ticket was for the general
seating area He knew then that she maybe "had an eye for
me " He and "Dec " were married and kept an eye on each other
for over 68 years, until she passed away in December of 2003.
Lowell got “a real job" w ith Mobil Oil delivering fuels
He worked his way up to a regional manager position and then
became district manager in Pendleton This was over a period
of several years and through the moving of the family almost
yearly The Gribbles had two sons. Doug and Stuart, and baby
Barbara when the company wanted "Gribb" to move again, and
he said "no more." Instead, he bought a station in Pendleton,
and he introduced anhydrous ammonia to farmers in the area
The family came to Heppner when Lowell bought the
Shell Oil franchise, and he and a partner also did business in
Condon Always a reader of scientific literature, Lowell became
intngued with what he read about a Hew lett-Packard unit created
to check bearings under load That interest led to his Ultrasonic
Predictable Maintenance business
Not long after Lowell mo\ ed to Heppner. he and another
"‘relocated Pendletonian" were at the Wishing Well Drive-In.
which once stood near the present Willow Creek Country
Clubhouse, discussing what they missed about Pendleton They
agreed on golf Not long after that. Lowell spearheaded the
successful effort to develop today 's golf course, starting with
three holes, increasing to five, then seven, and eventually
becoming the nine-hole course it is today.
This man with proven foresight will see some of his
children, his six grandchildren, and his 11 great grandchildren
at his birthday celebration
Their neighbors arc delighted to see Lowell and Francis
celebrating such milestone birthdays and view the pause for
K i r t M f l T o f i lr p c i n H w p l l - w i c h ^ c u i t h n l p u c n r p
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