Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 9, 2006)
Page 8 • Special Edition • Morrow County Fair and Rodeo • Heppner Gazette-Times. Wednesday, August 9, 2006 Grand Marshals have long, dedicated and active roots in community The Currin Family is a name well know n in the sport of rodeo. This years G rand M arsh als for the Oregon Trail Pro rodeo have long, dedicated and active roots in our com m unity. Both Tom and M arlene Currin have devoted most of their lives to Rodeo and our community. Both Tom and Marlene lived in Heppner as children. Tom has lived on Little Buttercreek his whole life and graduated from Heppner High School. He continued his education at OT1; majoring in the Field of a g ric u ltu re : W hen he re tu rn e d , he took the partnership in the family’s cattle ranch. T om ’s rodeo volunteer days reach back to the 1960’s when Cornett Green asked for his help running the timed event chutes and later, taking entries and helping to calc u la te the all around awards. His skills expanded to the Vice Chairm an for three years and Chairing the rodeo committee for one. In all, Tom served for nine years. He rem em bers the rodeo in the earlier days as an amateur Rodeo. Later the rodeo became PRCA in the early 1970’s and Tom was able to help m ake it successful along with other v o lu n te e rs such as Tad Miller, Charlie Daly, Jerry D ougherty, Rod M urray, O rval M atheny and Ray French. About the time Tom was volunteering Marlene served as the rodeo princess and then queen in the 1960’s. In her youth Marlene enjoyed barrel racing and then went Mark Your Calendar! 10th ANNUAL MICROBREW BEER & WINE TASTING! to school and worked at the N o rth w est School o f Business in Portland. She came back and married Tom on May 24th,, 1981 and had two sons, Jefery and Ryan. She was the Fair Secretary fo r five y ears and also volunteered as Chaperone for the Rodeo court from 1986-1988. Jerry G entry later recruited Marlene as the Rodeo Secretary. She served in this position for thirteen years. She was a part of the large transition of the present day fair and rodeo grounds. The new facilities took many ho u rs of p lan n in g , proposing, budgeting and a “get it d o n e” attitude to im prove and update the grounds. M arlene enjoys ev ery an g le o f ro d eo in clu d in g the d e d icated volunteers who make the event happen. Rodeo was not the only place this couple has left their mark. Tom was the treasu rer o f the M orrow County Livestock Growers for 31 years and served on the ASC; Morrow County Grain Grower and County Road committees. After 40 years he still keeps score at the bucking chutes at the Pendleton Round-Up each year. M arlen e was the d ire c to r o f the F am ily Community Education for all o f Morrow, U m atilla and U nion c o u n tie s. She is presently the President of the Heppner Book Worms and her greatest passion today is quilting with friends and family. Both love life and what it has to offer them. To this day, if asked, both Tom and Marlene would be there to assist in any way they could. Rodeo is in their roots. T hey support this popular sport and the town of Heppner. Their devotion and commitment has helped make the fair and Oregon Trail Pro Rodeo what it is today. (•rand Marshals Marlene and Tom Currin Superintendents will be anxiously awaiting exhibitors Once again the Fair Superintendents will be anxiously awaiting exhibitors on Monday afternoon, Aug. 14, from 1 - 8 p.m. to receive all the entries in the fair. Open Class fruits, vegetables and flowers will also be accepted on Tuesday morning from 8 a.m. until 10 a.m. This year all Open Class exhibits will be released on Sunday morning from 9 a.m. until 11 a.m. at the same time 4-H exhibits are released. If for some reason you can’t make it on Sunday morning, the Fair Office will be open Monday thru Friday the week following fair from 8-12 and 1-5 for pick-up of items. After 30 days those exhibits that are left will become the property of the Morrow County Fair and may be discarded. THURSDAY, AUG. 17th 6:00 p.m. - 9:30 p.m. MORROW COUNTY FAIRGROUNDS Dinner presented by Bucknum't Catering. Featuring Krazy Kabobf & Oysters Galore! ^ Miw/uuj'J D aluj HEM P O R T OF MORROW P.O. Box 200, Boardman, OR 97818 Phone:(541)481-7678 • Fax (541) 481-2679 We are proud to support the Morroiu County fair, the Oregon TraiC Pro %pdeo, and Morrow County Jackpot H(pdeo! 217 North Main • Heppner • 676-9158 Serving the Willow Creek Valley Port of Morrow Commissioner»: Marv Padbcrg. President • Don Russell, Vice-President / Treasurer Larry Lindsay, Secretary • Jerry Healy, Commissioner • Joe Taylor, Commissioner
