Morrow County Museum dedicates parlor to Balsiger family
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Bessie VVet/eli vu,
d iv ers,t> o f 0rJ 07
a^ L ,b rary
Eugene, OR 97403
VOL. 127
NO. 12
10 Pages
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
The Morrow County
Museum recently celebrated
the grand opening o f the
Balsiger Parlor. Minette Si-
card o f Glen Rose, TX and
her brother Allan Learned of
Irondale, WA were on hand
for the dedication. They are
the grandchildren o f Paul
and Lydia Balsiger.
Paul George Wash
ington answ ered the call
“Go West Young Man" when
in 1895 at the age o f 21 he
bought some tools, packed
his trunk and traveled from
Minette Sicard and Allan Learned sit in the parlor dedicated to
their grandparents at the Morrow County Museum. -Photo by
April Sykes
Highland, lLto lone. He was
met at the lone train station
by his parents, Ferdinand
and brothers Louis and Ar
nold along w ith other family
members w ho had preceded
him in coming to Morrow
County. Paul was trained
as a water tank builder and
established an implement
business on Main Street to
serve the farmers. He left
behind his fiancée, Lydia
Anna Mange, also of High
land. Six years later, when
he had the resources, he built
her a new house at 2nd and C
Street. They were married in
Highland on February 10,
1902. After honeymooning
in California they arrived
in lone and settled into their
new life together in the far
west.
As the years passed
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon by, three children were bom
to them in their home, deliv
ered by Dr. Chick o f lone,
Arlene in 1904, Helen in
1907, and Alfred in 1910.
During their school years,
Helen learned to play the
piano and organ, and at the
age o f 16 began teaching
piano. Alfred, at the age of
10 started repairing bicycles
in his front yard, the first of
many businesses throughout
his lifetime. Arlene was the
star o f the lone High School
girls’basketball team. When
little, the girls would join
three others and all five
would ride Ginny, the Riet-
First ever Heppner boxing smoker a success
The Heppner Cham
ber ofCommerce and URock
Radio recently organized the
first boxing smoker in Hep
pner. The event was held
Friday, March 14 at Heppner
High School. The smoker
consisted o f 11 bouts.
The F ig h t o f the
N ight was Bout #11 be
tween Brandon Davis and
Cody Walton. The fighters
went four rounds and each
received a $100 check
The Fighter o f the
Night was Dimitar Dimitrov
who received $100 check.
Winners o f each bout re
ceived a medallion.
The event was put
together by Daye Stone,
„'SI,!. *
Kurt Looslie (left) and Shad Jeffreys (right) participated in the
boxing smoker last Friday night. -Photo by Dave Sykes
principal o f Heppner High Heppner Chamber o f Corn-
School. All proceeds o f merce.
the sm oker benefited the
mann white mule to school
every day. Later the Bal
siger children would drive
the family car throughout
the countryside. During the
summer, they all enjoyed
swimming in Willow Creek
with cousins and friends.
All the children graduated
from lone High School and
in 1924 Helen was valedic
torian o f her class. Shortly
after th eir school years,
Arlene married Paul Koeh-
ring and moved to Indiana.
Alfred moved to The Dalles
and married Esther Hutson.
Helen graduated from the
University o f Washington
with a bachelor o f music
degree. In her senior year
on her birthday, March 25,
1928, she married her col
lege sweetheart Allan M.
Learned in the lone home.
Rev. Head o f lone offici
ated and she descended the
stairway as a bride to music
played on the organ in the
parlor.
Paul and Lydia were
very active in the commu
nity. Paul helped build the
lone Congregational Church
and made all the pews by
hand, some o f which are
still in lone with his signa
ture. He was very musical
and played the harmonica,
guitar, accordion, French
and baritone horns. Lydia
also played guitar and they
would often play and sing
together in the parlor for
family entertainment. Paul
played in the lone City Band
and always marched in the
Fourth of July Parade. Helen
was the Parade Queen w hen
she was 10 years old, she
always said it was because
she had long hair. Lydia was
very active in the Congre
gational Church and every
Sunday invited Rev. Head
and his family for dinner.
Helen became church organ
ist w hen she was eight years
old, and one o f her fondest
memories was accompany
ing her father to the church
to light the candles on the
Christmas tree for Christmas
Eve Service.
Paul’s business was
very successful and many of
the windmills he installed
in Morrow County are still
standing. The Balsiger fam
ily continues to own wheat
land north o f lone and is
farmed by their cousin Ed
Rietmann. Paul retired in
1937 and sold his business
to his cousin Om ar R iet
mann. He and Lydia moved
to a home with a cherry or
chard on the bluff at White
Salmon, WA overlooking
the C olum bia R iver and
Mt. Hood. They lived there
until 1957, celebrating their
50th wedding anniversary in
1952. They then moved to
The Dalles at the age o f 90
and 94 respectively.
Paul, Lydia and the
fam ily love lone dearly
and passed along many
precious memories to suc
ceeding generations. They
were a pioneer family who
worked hard and lived well.
True to their Swiss heritage
they worshiped God daily
and were ever grateful for
the blessings o f this won
derful place that was their
home. The Balsiger fam
ily is deeply grateful to the
Morrow County Heritage
Museum for preserving so
lov ingly this family history
and memorabilia for the fu
ture generations to enjoy.
He did what?
lone School Board approves management
contract with Umatilla-Morrow ESD
By April Sykes
T he lo n e S chool
Board approved a $ 169,388
management services agree
ment w ith the U m atilla-
M orrow ESD for educa
tional services, including
business services, human
resources, including payroll
and negotiations, an autism
aide, other board services
and operation and mainte
nance services.
The district will be
billed in two semi-annual
payments o f $84,694.
Superintendent Bryn
B row ning told the board
that she has met with an ar
chitect, engineer, contractor
and a project manager with
regard to the possible district
bond projects. Information
concerning different project
costs will be presented at the
April board meeting.
Also at the meeting
the board:
-heard from Brown
ing that the district has up
graded their safety proce
dures at the school. She
said that decals have been
ordered which will notify
all visitors that they must
report to the office; parents
and other visitors will no
longer be able to go directly
to classrooms, but rather stu-
dents will be sent to the of
fice to meet with the parent
or visitor; phone calls will
no longer be forwarded to or
made in the classrooms, but
rather students will be sent
to the office to make or re
ceive phone calls; and other
safety procedures which
were outlined in a handout.
-heard from Brown
ing that the lone High School
boys’basketball team placed
first in the Dairy Farmers
scholastic contest for having
the highest grade-point aver
age among 1A schools and
the girls placed third.
-heard from Brown
ing that she had attended a
small schools conference.
Topics at the conference
included legal issues, par
ticularly requirem ents o f
the school to provide child
abuse identification and pre
vention classes for staff, par
ents and students. Browning
also told the board that she
viewed a demonstration of
an interactive board that can
be used in the classroom and
said that the Echo schools
had received the boards
through a grant.
-heard the follow
ing report from Browning
that new lockers have been
installed; a propane heating
unit has been installed at the
Cardinal fitness club; student
conferences are planned for
April 10; an open gym will
be held from 4-6 p.m. begin
ning March 30 for kids and
parents; International Club
students will soon embark
on their trip to G erm any
and the Czech Republic;
the long jump pit has been
poured; greenhouse items
will be available for sale
the end o f April or the first
o f M ay; student c o n fe r
ences will be held April 10;
an overpayment o f a salary
was discovered and has been
corrected.
-approved the sec
ond read in g o f p o lic ie s
concerning students with
disabilities and special edu
cation students.
-approved the first
reading of required Title I
policies.
-accepted the follow
ing resignations: Dick Allen,
from the m iddle school
boys’ basketball coaching
position; Ryan Rudolf, from
the high school head girls'
basketball coaching posi
tion.
-accepted a recom
mendation to hire Rudolf as
the 2008-09 athletic director.
ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE:
MONDAYS AT 5:00 RM.
/
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»
City Manager Steve Bogart and Marsha Kemp catch up on their leprechaun gossip. See
more pictures of St. Patrick’s Celebration in Heppner on page Five. Photo by Dave Sykes
lone High School boys' basketball team takes first in
OSAA/Dairy Farmers academic all-state awards
The lone High School boys’ basket
ball team took first place in the 1A div ision
o f the Oregon School Activities Association/
Dairy Farmers Academic All-State awards.
The IHS boys had a combined 3.66 grade-
point average.
The IHS girls’ basketball team was
third in the 1A classification with a 3.84
gpa-
The Heppner High School boys’
basketball team was fifth in the 2A clas
sification with a 3.46 gpa and the HHS
girls were 14th with a 3.42 gpa.
The Riverside High School girls'
basketball team was 11th in the 3A clas
sification with a 3.44 gpa and the Irrigon
High School girls’ team w as 22nd in the 2 A
classification with a 3.24 gpa.
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