Painting ‘O the Green
HEPPNER
G T
50¢
azette
imes
VOL. 139
NO. 11 10 Pages
Wednesday, March 11, 2020
Heppner’s signature street shamrock got a fresh coat of paint Monday morning in preparation
for the 38 th Annual “A Wee Bit O’ Ireland Celebration” starting this weekend in Heppner.
Members of the city crew handling the paint job are left to right Kaleb McDaniel, Public
Works Director Chad Doherty and Robert Whalen. See inside for a complete schedule and all
the information you need about the big weekend.
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Raymond and Norma French
reign as 2020 St. Patrick’s Day
Grand Marshals
Raymond and Norma
French, long time Heppner
residents, have been chosen
as the 2020 Heppner St. Pat-
rick’s Day grand marshals.
They will preside over the
St. Patrick’s Great Green
Parade and festivities.
Raymond, 92, is proud
to say that three out of four
grandparents are from Ire-
land. He was raised on the
French Ranch on Big Butter
Creek until he was nine. He
attended the Lena school
through the third grade.
He and his brother, Joseph,
rode five miles on horse-
back to school which took
an hour or so. He was then
sent to St. Joseph Academy
for the fourth grade. He
finished school in Heppner.
Norma, 93, grew up in
Promise, one of 10 children
born to Nettie and Edgar
Denton, then moved to
Milton-Freewater to attend
McLaughlin. When she
was in the eighth grade her
family moved to Condon.
Norma is “not technically
Irish, but acts like a feisty
little leprechaun,” laughs
Raymond’s younger sister,
Francine Evans of Irrigon.
“If Raymond did one good
thing in his life it was to
marry this woman,” adds
Francine.
Raymond and Norma
first met in Condon when
they were in high school
and went together a few
years before he volunteered
for the service. He enlisted
in the Navy during the end
of World War II. He attend-
ed Colorado State and then
went to Seattle where he
had been training to become
a pilot.
“Their courtship was
a long distance one since
Raymond lived in Hep-
pner and Norma lived in
Condon. Raymond did not
own a car. This was during
the days of rationing due
to the war when coupons
were needed for almost ev-
erything, including gasoline
and tires. One coupon was
worth four gallons of gas.
Raymond’s mother would
occasionally be able to give
Raymond a coupon and
the Catholic priest, Father
McCormick, would sympa-
thize with him and furnish
him one or two. Then Ray-
mond would find someone
with a car and offer the
coupons for a ride to Con-
don. Another challenge to
the journey was the tires. In
those days, tires had tubes
and everyone remembers
the tubes had “patches on
patches” as tires were hard
to obtain. The road between
Heppner and Condon was
still partly gravel. Ray-
mond remembers helping
to change many flat tires.
When Norma wanted to
get to Heppner, she caught
a ride with Bill Cox on the
creamery truck as it made
its regular route from Hep-
pner to Fossil. No one need-
ed to be in a hurry since the
speed limit was 35 miles per
hour. They still laugh about
the fact it had to have been
true love between them
to overcome the distance
and travel obstacles they
faced to be able to see one
another.”
“Raymond enlisted in
the Navy following his
high school graduation in
Heppner. He was released
from service at the end of
World War II and returned
home to marry his high
school sweetheart on Oc-
tober 26, 1946 in Condon.”
(According to an article on
their 70th anniversary).
They married at 19 and
20 years old (Norma didn’t
know she was a little bit
older than Raymond until
much later). “Following a
honeymoon trip to Portland,
Norma and Raymond lived
at Vinson for a year and
then moved to the ranch
home on Big Butter Creek,
with the nearest town, Hep-
pner, 25 miles away. At
the beginning in their new
home, they had a 1941 Ford
pickup that his grandfather
had given him, no electric-
ity and no running water
in the home. He did all
the ranch work with work
horses.”
Norma and Raymond
have three children, Karen
Wood, who now lives in
Tigard, Verina Schiller,
Austin, Texas, and Susan
French, who lives on the
ranch, nine grandchildren
and 13 great-grandchildren,
“who live all over the U.S.,”
says Raymond.
Raymond served as a
Morrow County Commis-
sioner for eight years, from
1990-1998, a state repre-
sentative for four years;
a Heppner School Board
member; a member of the
Cattlemen’s Association,
both county and state, the
Morrow County Cattleman
of the year in 1964, and
the Oregon Cattlemen’s
Association president from
1980-81, vice president of
the National Cattlemen’s
Association; a rodeo board
member, the Oregon Trail
Pro Rodeo grand marshal
in 2001; a 16-year member
of the Soil and Water Con-
servation District Board,
serving as chairman for
several of those years. He
Raymond and Norma French.
Raymond and Norma French
during various years of their
lives.
was honored with a lifetime
achievement award in 1997.
Besides raising the
three girls, Norma was
active in the St. Patrick
Church Altar Society, coun-
ty and state CowBelles
(now the CattleWomen) of
which she was the Oregon
vice president. She also was
a member of the Sentimen-
talists, a Heppner singing
group.
After the couple retired
from the ranch, they moved
to Heppner and later to a
retirement home in Pendle-
ton. When they decided to
make the move into assisted
living, they were able to
move back to Heppner, to
Willow Creek Valley As-
sisted Living.
Raymond’s Irish ances-
tors, all from Carndonagh,
County Donegal, Ireland, or
nearby include:
-great grandfather,
William Callahan Doherty
-See 2020 GRAND
MARSHALS/PAGE TWO
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Raymond, age 4, 1931, on Midget.
MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M.