Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, June 28, 2023 -- SEVEN
Steve and Molly Rhea. -Photo by Kay Proctor
Mary Ann Elguezabal with grandson Juan David Payne.
-Photo by Kay Proctor
Steve and Molly’s front yard. -Photo by Kay Proctor
Mary Ann Elguezabal front yard -Photo by Kay Proctor
Memory Stone in Elguezabal’s yard. -Photo by Kay Proctor
Rhea’s birdhouse. -Photo by Kay Proctor
Bordered beds surround
the yard and are filled with
vegetables, annuals, peren-
nials and shrubs. A raised
bed of rhubarb and variet-
ies of raspberries has been
closed off with hog panel
wire to keep out deer. Many
of the plantings have been
given to and shared with
Mary Ann by friends and
family. Her favorites are
the French lilacs, marigolds
and alyssum.
In 2014, 20 trees were
destroyed by fire and the
house was threatened, saved
only by a sudden change of
wind, although an outbuild-
ing was burned down. A
bird landing on a nearby
transformer caused the fire,
which spread rapidly across
the town’s southwest hills
and was heroically stopped
by local fire departments
and helpful citizens. Mary
Ann mentions the patient
and thorough work done by
John Healy in cleaning up
the fire damage at her place.
For now, Mary Ann
can enjoy her yard while
watching quail and other
cheerful birds from her fa-
vorite spot, the back patio.
Graced with a huge, sturdy
wood table built by Mr. E
and recently refurbished by
son, Tomas, the table is a
central gathering place for
Familia Elguezabal.
Steve and Molly Rhea
purchased their home in
1986 after the bank had to
take it back from a previous
owner. Even knowing there
were projects to do, it was
still a bit of a surprise to
discover nasturtium flowers
had made their way inside
to bloom in the utility room.
Molly recalls daughter
Macy bringing home starts
of trees that were actually
small sticks given to stu-
dents at school on Arbor
Day, which they graciously
planted in the backyard.
Those sticks now tower
over the house, giving deep
shade. The new family
pup, Boots, discovered a
few spots under the trees
where the grass thinned
out, giving Boots some mud
to enjoy and share. Steve
has plans to rototill and
re-do the back lawn with
shade-friendly grass.
Terraces have been
carved out of the hillside
to maximize use. Steve re-
moved old railroad ties used
in bed borders, replacing
them with large landscape
blocks. Another part of this
project was replacing an
older, shorter terrace in the
back with 33 feet of terrac-
ing standing six feet high on
top of a gravel base.
Other projects in the
backyard are adding access
stairs and a large deck look-
ing over the draw.
Steve does the yard
maintenance and recom-
mends using a good quality
fertilizer during spring and
fall time. He pulls out by
hand any dandelions or
other weeds that try to show
up. Molly takes care of the
many plants and flowers
and, also, a few vegetables
are grown. She mentions
that many of the plantings
came from the garden of her
mother, Fay Pierce. Planted
pots are used throughout
and some overwinter in
Steve’s favorite part of the
yard—his heated shop.
The front yard is Mol-
ly’s favorite place outdoors.
Steve’s favorite flowers are
the colorful tulips that grow
there, and Molly’s favorites
are the large, bright-orange
poppies. A shady hazel tree
makes a privacy screen.
Lots of birds visit and cer-
tain ones use the feeder, a
gift from Howard and Beth
Bryant.
Working as a dedicated
registered nurse since 1979,
Molly is nearing retire-
ment as Pioneer Memorial
Home Health and Hospice
Director. Steve grew up on
the Grieb Ranch where his
dad was employed, and has
been a member of the Hep-
pner Fire Department for
36-plus years, the last three
and a half as fire chief. Son
Trevor is a volunteer there,
too. Grandsons are Pierce
and Maverick.
Both neighboring fam-
ilies mention that to start a
landscaped yard does not
have to cost a lot; estab-
lished plants need to be
divided or trimmed and
people doing that are usual-
ly more than happy to share
with others. Steve mentions
that when starting out, they
did not have a plan or vi-
sion; he “just likes a green
yard.” With the 2014 fire
starting right behind their
homes and with Steve’s
years of fighting fires, he re-
minds us that a green lawn
can be a fire barrier, too.
Yard of the Month is
co-sponsored by the Hep-
pner Volunteers, MCGG
Green Feed & Seed Store,
and the City of Heppner.
-Continued from PAGE TWO investing more in promo-
well as enhancing the reli-
ability of the services. So
far, the study has uncovered
a lack of awareness about
existing services, which
could also be connected
to low utilization of those
services.
“But there’s a strong
desire for more consistency
and reliability of services
to be able to use them,”
Donovan added, “as well
as a desire for more infor-
mation.”
She also said that a
significant number of re-
spondents walk, especially
compared to most rural
areas, where people tend
to walk less than in urban
areas.
“And we see a lot of
unique approaches on be-
half of private employers or
nonprofit organizations to
solve transportation needs
for their communities,”
she said.
Dr. Daniel Costie of
EOU was the lead research-
er on the project. He pre-
sented REV’s findings,
which indicated that there
were a lot of people un-
aware of existing services
like Kayak, CareVan Med-
ical and Dial-a-Ride. Of
those who were, even fewer
actually used the services.
Most drove or carpooled.
“What was interesting,
to us at least, was that folks
are much more keen to walk
than they are to bike, bus
or use Dial-a-Ride,” Costie
said.
Work, shopping and
church were the three most
common destinations listed
by respondents. Most peo-
ple listed reliability as their
greatest travel challenge.
When asked about how
a Hermiston/Boardman
connector could be more
valuable, most people re-
sponded that they needed
more information about
the services, such as bus
schedules. Consistency was
also a key factor. Response
regarding a Boardman/Port
of Morrow connector was
similar.
The recommendations
that came out of the study
were to work with employ-
ers regarding the dissem-
ination of information on
transit options, invest in
more full-time drivers and
more buses on the roads,
and to encourage collab-
oration with employers to
promote coordination of
transportation options to
work.
The REV researchers
also recommended working
with employers to offer in-
centives to use new service
routes, fostering ridership
through “travel training,”
tional information in Span-
ish, broadening the scope of
Dial-A-Ride services, and
investing in pedestrian and
cycling infrastructure to
facilitate connectivity with
transit routes.
“People are—both
when you’re behind the
wheel and you’re the ones
walking—people are seeing
the need for more safety
built into the infrastructure,
with more opportunities to
leverage the walking and
biking,” said Costie.
“When I go through the
new section of east beach
and the Port, we have a
fairly nice walking path
with LED lighting, which
obviously helps in safety,
and then we have some
crosswalks that have the
flashing safety lights,” Mor-
row County Commissioner
Roy Drago commented.
“Is that the kind of stuff
we need to incorporate
more of for this to be better
access for pedestrians and
bicycles, or are we actually
talking about new paths?”
“I think it’s connecting
some of those good portions
of infrastructure that we
have,” Donovan replied.
She added that a separate
study had looked at pro-
posed bus stops and rated
them good, fair or poor
for pedestrian and bicycle
accessibility. “There are
portions where things are
fairly accessible and good
within the Port of Morrow,
but generally speaking,
previous research has found
that infrastructure to be fair
or poor.”
“As the transit service
comes online,” added Phil-
lips, “there are ways to
make hubs more accessible
to folks so that they’re more
likely to use that service as
a park-and-ride, or even as
an access point for using
these other pedestrian or
bike facilities.
“And I’d add that there
is likely funding for those
opportunities as well,” she
said.
Mabbott added that the
new transportation plan
the county adopted last
year added a whole new
section on transit, and that
this study did indeed set the
stage for future funding.
She said she also gained
other valuable insights from
the study.
“I learned so much
about how to engage certain
populations,” she added.
“Having interpreters at a
meeting. Having people in
the room that they under-
stand. Additional outreach.
Those were all things that
I’ve already put to use.”
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1-Free Dump
Pickup your voucher at City Hall starting
June 1, 2023. Voucher only good for the
month of June. Heppner Residents Only!
The voucher entitles 1 free 6x6 pickup load with
racks @ S. Morrow County Transfer Station.
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Tires
HEPPNER
OREGON
By Kay Proctor
Heppner’s Yard of the
Month recognition for June
was shared equally between
neighbors Mary Ann El-
guezabal at 70 Canyon
Drive and Steve and Molly
Rhea next door at 60 Can-
yon Drive.
Mary Ann purchased
her home from the Bob
Kahl family in 2001 after
renting a home on Gilm-
ore Street. Retired now
from teaching at Heppner
Elementary School, where
she was known as Mrs. E,
Mary Ann keeps busy with
family, church and volun-
teering, but does take time
to enjoy the hillside yard of
her home.
The Elguezabals moved
here in 1997 from their
hometown of Nyssa. There,
Mary Ann had met Juan
Elguezabal while cooking
pancakes at a breakfast
where they were both vol-
unteers. Nicknamed Mr. E,
the beloved schoolteacher
and coach sadly passed
away a few years after
moving to Heppner. The
couple’s children are Petra,
Blas, San Juanita, Chuy,
Nacho and Tomas.
Nine grandchildren
have plenty to do in the
well-tended yard, which
has a swing set, playhouse,
an old boat just for play,
a trampoline, and an area
where the second genera-
tion competes now in Home
Run Derbies. The multiple
terracing creates lots of
areas to explore, also.
Mowing, weeding and
yard work are shared by
multiple family members.
County transit
CITY OF
Rheas, Elguezabal awarded yards of the
month for June
1887