Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, December 28 , 2022 -- THREE
Miles couple celebrates
60 years
Dexter and Corinne Miles
of Heppner are celebrating
60 years of marriage this
Friday.
Dexter Miles, a Lex-
ington High School gradu-
ate, met Corinne Siggelkow
of Scobey, MT when he was
stationed at Glasgow Air
Force Base in northeastern
Montana. She was a teacher
at Glasgow schools at the
time.
They were married in
a small, private ceremony
on Dec. 30, 1962, in Sco-
bey. They lived in various
towns in eastern Montana
and eastern Oregon early
in their married life as Dex-
ter pursued different jobs,
mainly farming. Corinne
worked as a substitute
teacher and focused on
raising their five children,
Darrell, Craig, Carla, Mi-
chele and Andrea. In 1977
they settled in their current
home on the family farm on
Fuller Canyon Lane outside
of Heppner.
Two of their daughters,
Carla and Michele, did
not live to see their 60 th
anniversary, but they have
been blessed with 20 living
grandchildren and several
great-grandchildren.
They will celebrate the
milestone with a small open
house for family Friday
evening at their home.
St. Pat’s committee to meet
The Heppner Chamber
of Commerce will hold a St.
Patrick’s Day Committee
meeting on Tuesday, Jan.
3, at 5:30 p.m. The meeting
will be held at the Heppner
Chamber of Commerce
office, 133 N Main Street,
Heppner.
Any questions can be
directed to heppnercham-
ber@gmail.com.
Water control district
meets next month
The Heppner Water
Control District will meet
Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2023,
at the Pettyjohn Office
Building conference room
beginning at 6 p.m.
Agenda items include
minutes of previous meet-
ing, financial review, report
to the Secretary of State
and open bids received.
Meetings of the HWCD are
open to the public.
Good News Only by Doris Brosnan
A great story of compassion and caring from Jackie
Alleman: “We have a hospice client who, when I inter-
viewed him about his hobbies, mentioned that his favorite
basketball team is the Golden State Warriors. Although
a visit to a game is not permissible at this time, Molly
Rhea, Hospice Director, suggested that I check out their
website to see if they had a virtual tour of their facilities
that we could access for this man. As I perused the web-
site, Golden State Warriors had a place where you could
access signed equipment. As I filled out the form, I noticed
that it was available for California residents only. I may
have misrepresented on the form and entered our full
Heppner address and fudged the city, so the form would
be accepted. Well, three weeks later we received a nice
square package, the same size as a Wilson professional
basketball signed by Jonathon Kuminga. Not a Stephen
Curry signature for sure, but that didn’t dampen the spirits
of our hospice client. The basketball was delivered by
Jerry Conklin, Chaplin, and Jackie Alleman, Volunteer
Coordinator. Many thanks to the Golden State Warriors
and may Santa bring you a playoff seed.”
Another holiday season with weather that challenged
families who needed to travel. Hopefully, many reached
destinations before the ice storms and could wait for the
promised thawing the extra day or two after Christmas.
Christmas Day at Brian and Susy Thompson’s includ-
ed Bill McCoin, and family members Terry and Karen,
Emily and Keenan, Stephen and Charlie, and the adven-
turous travelers from Walla Walla, Shelley and Tim. If the
Gorge weather allowed, they were expecting Erik’s family
to join them on Monday. The evening at Thompsons was
filled with great food and conversation, and Shelley had
two takers for a folded-fabric-star craft she led!
When the families of Bob and Sharon Harrison gather,
the game of Hand and Foot seems to be a tradition, and
all of them—children, grandchildren and great grandchil-
dren, Todd and Mike, Trent and Jill’s family, Travis and
Kirsten’s family and Tony and Tiffany’s family—were
able to get to Lexington for that fun and the great meals
and fellowship.
Yes, this is a busy time of year, but maybe you can
find a few minutes for jotting something and sending it
to dbrosnan123@gmail.com or for calling 541-223-1490.
Here’s hoping that some good news comes to every-
one reading this!
Speaker Rayfield concludes three-day trip
with visits to Boardman, Port of Morrow
Speaker met with Republican House members Greg Smith and
Bobby Levy, along with other local elected leaders
Oregon House Speaker Dan Rayfield and Rep. Greg Smith talk to education
leaders at the Port of Morrow in Boardam
BOARDMAN – Or- ings when learning about Columbia Development
egon House Speaker Dan unique communities. We Authority (formerly the
Rayfield (D-Corvallis) con- made several stops high- Umatilla Army Depot Re-
cluded a three-day tour of lighting Northeast Oregon’s use Authority) and a meet-
Central and Eastern Or- vast energy and food pro- ing at the Port of Morrow
egon today with stops in duction industries, and dis- with Rep. Bobby Levy
Boardman and the Port of cussed the need for housing (R-Echo), county commis-
and childcare,” Rep. Smith sioners from around the
Morrow.
“As House Speaker, I said. “The speaker and I region (Gilliam, Morrow,
will always aim to serve have been colleagues for a Umatilla and Wasco), and
all corners of the state,” number of years, and I look local leaders from Board-
Speaker Rayfield said. “I forward to the 2023 session man, Irrigon and Maupin,
again want to thank all the as we further our bipartisan among others.
“Thank you, Speaker
local elected leaders who efforts to better the State of
Rayfield,
for taking the
welcomed me this week Oregon.”
time
to
travel
and visit our
The day concluded
and provided important
beautiful
Eastern
Oregon,”
insight into the opportuni- with a driving tour of the
ties and challenges in their
communities. This will be
invaluable feedback as we
focus on the values and
priorities Oregonians have
told us they wanted to see
in 2023.”
Speaker Rayfield
joined Rep. Greg Smith
(R-Umatilla, Morrow, Gil-
10:00 AM
liam, Sherman and Wasco
Counties) in Hermiston on
Old
Available for:
Wednesday morning for
Country
a meeting with education
Weddings • Funerals
leaders in the Hermiston
Church
Family Events
and Umatilla school dis-
All Are
tricts, the city managers of
541-422-7300
Welcome
Hermiston and Umatilla,
and other local business and
nonprofit leaders.
They then met with
leaders of the Umatilla
Electric Cooperative to
discuss energy usage in the
region, including the power
the cooperative provides
for nearby Amazon data
centers.
“I am thankful to
Speaker Rayfield for mak-
ing this visit out to Eastern
Oregon. Nothing compares
to in-person tours and meet-
Valby Lutheran Church
Valby Road
Ione Oregon. 97843
Church Services
1st & 3rd Sundays
Rep. Levy said. “In-per-
son tours and meetings are
the best way to gain true
appreciation of the unique
communities and challeng-
es that come from living in
Northeast Oregon. I look
forward to your future vis-
its to this side of our great
state, and the bipartisan
efforts to better the whole
State of Oregon.”
In addition to meet-
ing with Rep. Smith and
Rep. Levy on Wednesday,
Speaker Rayfield is meet-
ing with returning and in-
coming legislators prior
to announcing committee
assignments for the 2023
legislative session.
The 82 nd Oregon Leg-
islative Assembly will be
sworn in on Monday, Jan.
9, and the 2023 legislative
session will begin on Tues-
day, Jan. 17.
Spiritually Speaking
Father Thankachan Joseph
St. Patrick Catholic Church Heppner
Holy family: a model for all
families to imitate
The Holy Family is the example for all of us. The
child Jesus is a beautiful example of how to be obedient
to our parents. Mary teaches us to be caring mothers,
spouses and sisters. St. Joseph is always spoken of as a
man who lived a just life, a good father. The Holy Family
listened and obeyed, and, though they had to go through
many struggles, lived the will of God.
The Book of Sirach (3:2-6, 12-14) offers the duties
and responsibilities of children towards their parents: obey
and respect their father and mother. I was reminded of
something that happens in most families all around the
globe: When children are very small, they argue and tell
each other. “Mummy is mine,” or “Daddy is mine,” But
these same children who fought each other for their mum-
my and daddy when they were tiny toddlers will not have
time for their parents when adults, forgetting the parents
who gave their best and forgot to live for themselves in
order to provide a better future for their children. “Long
life comes to anyone who honors a father, whoever obeys
the Lord makes a mother happy. Such a one serves parents
also as the Lord” (Sir 3:6). Parents are our visible God on
earth. Do parents sometimes need to correct and discipline
their children? Is a successful family one in which all the
children excel in studies and extracurricular activities?
A family where all behave perfectly and never quarrel?
A family made up of perfectionists? Mother Teresa said:
“God does not call me to be successful but to be faithful.”
We are all human and have failings. Falling down on the
journey of life and getting up again are part of growth.
We can sincerely try to change undesirable behavior,
with the grace of God and support and encouragement
of loved ones.
This coming Sunday we are celebrating the Solem-
nity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God, and combine it
with feast-day reflections on the Holy Family. As part
of our meditations, in chapter 2 of Luke, we see Mary
and Joseph take the child to the Jerusalem temple for the
customary purification rite, and we read that he becomes
missing. We see them going hand-in-hand in search of the
lost boy, in a spirit of prayer. We don’t see them accuse
each other in their great misfortune. They lived in a tough
time, during selfish, cruel King Herod’s reign. He sought
to kill Jesus because he refused to see anyone higher than
he. So, Joseph, taking Mary and the child, flees to Egypt.
The Holy family was not spared from the difficulties
of day-to-day life, but their love, prayer, devotion, com-
mitment in life, and work kept them united. In the midst
of troubles, they showed signs of encouragement, smiled
at those who looked at them despairingly and prayed for
them, a model family for us.
The ordinary life of Joseph included the struggle for
daily bread, as he worked at his carpentry. Mary worked
at housekeeping and helping Joseph. Although Mary and
Joseph were busy, both found time to be with the Lord.
Busy as we all are, do we find time to be with the Lord?
In Nazareth, one group of people came around Joseph
and Mary’s poor, modest family, looking up to them as
a model family. Another group sneered at them and tried
to annoy and lay snares for them. They gathered around
Joseph to gossip and urged him to speak against the preg-
nancy of Mary. But Joseph would just shake his head. If
an argument became heated and Mary’s eyes brimmed
with tears, Jesus would cut it short, “We must forgive!
Forgive, not once but seventy times seven.” Many of our
family issues could be decimated if married couples have
the minds and hearts of Joseph and Mary.
Mary was the best mom and Joseph a just and prudent
man. Parents today can learn from them how to teach their
children to grow in obedience and respect. The Nazareth
home reminds us that families have the responsibility of
teaching their children the Faith and to model virtues. So,
as we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family, let us ponder
how we can be a model, a family capable of being open to
God’s will, of being loving and happy, of communicating
more often and having more time for face-to-face family
interaction, of bringing Christ into the lives of others.