TWO - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, July 31, 2024
The Official Newspaper
of the City of Heppner and the County of Morrow
Good News Only by Doris Brosnan
Heppner
The Sykes Family recently held their annual reunion
on the Oregon coast. This year they rented a beach house
at Pacific City, where they spent a week visiting, enjoying
the beach, and catching up on news about the families.
David and April Sykes attended, as well as son Chris,
his wife Rachel, and their children Sophie and Waylon.
Son Andrew came from Pendleton with his friend Irma
Rodriguez and her daughter Gianni, also of Pendleton.
Allison Hayes and her husband Matt came from Cary,
North Carolina, with their two boys August and Sebas-
tian. Camille Sykes came from Milwaukie with her son
Oscar. Also, there on Sunday to visit was David’s Sis-
ter Ardeen Sykes from Monmouth Oregon. Her son and
David’s nephew JC Clay and his wife Brandy also came
for the visit. The group had fun at the beach, played
dominoes, and cooked large dinners, including Allison’s
popular annual seafood medley – a large kettle of crab,
clams, potatoes, vegetables, and more that she cooks up
and then dumps in the middle of the table for everyone
to dive in and enjoy. Everyone also went to the beach
and watched the fishing dories launch through the surf,
and some even climbed the “huge” sand dune next to
the beach.
Kit and Shirley George’s daughter, Kimberly, visit-
ed last week, just a hop, skip, and a jump from her busi-
ness meeting in Seattle. They were joined one evening
for dinner by the Georges’ granddaughter, Kelly, and her
husband, Luke Barnett, as well as their baby daughter,
Bo. Another evening was enjoyed by all with overnight
guests Courtney George – another granddaughter – and
her friend Joel. Courtney was here from her home in Ro-
anoke, Virginia, to work with her mother, Destiny, who
owns a mortgage loan business in Hermiston. Family
visits and a stay at the family cabin in the mountains
were highlights of the week.
The Steagalls’ annual family reunion, July 10
through the 14 th , was again held at Bull Prairie. Was it
the “luck of the Irish” that enabled them to gather for
those five days and leave the park one day before the
park had to be evacuated because of the wildfire threat?
Ninety family members, including twenty under the age
of twelve, attended this year, from ten states, with Bob
Steagall of Albany claiming the “oldest” prize and two
two-month-old boy cousins recognized as the youngest.
Traveling from Texas and Pennsylvania were the lon-
gest trips, and attendees traveled by plane, by car, with
RVs, and with tents. Some who drove found rooms at
the Spray motel and “probably enlivened that town a bit
each night!” assumes one family reporter. The Texas and
Utah cousins, as they do each year, created commemo-
rative T-shirts, keepsakes sure to stir memories for years
to come. A big surprise for the local Steagalls flew in
on Friday: Coby, who now lives in California, told no
one that he was going to come and was able to be there
from Friday through Sunday. Once again, the mosqui-
toes, uninvited pests, created chall1enges, but they did
not change anyone’s mind about planning for a repeat
gathering in 2025!
Two years ago, Doris Brosnan’s niece Dena Struthers
and her husband Lyle Wiese invited her to come to their
home in Hammond, Oregon. Last weekend that visit fi-
nally worked out! Doris and daughter, Darci, traveled
from Salem on Saturday, enjoyed many hours of visit-
ing and catching up on Wieses’ news, and returned to
Salem on Sunday. On the return trip, they also enjoyed
a long-overdue visit with Doris’s sister Edie, who lives
in Lake Oswego. Doris had arrived in Salem on the pre-
vious Thursday, so on Friday, her grandson Conor, who
lives in Corvallis, joined her for the afternoon, a big bo-
nus on her trip.
Send your tidbit of good news to dbrosnan123@
gmail.com or call 541-223-1490 and give GT readers a
few more moments of respite from less positive news!
Here’s hoping that good news comes to everyone
reading this.
GAZETTE-TIMES
U.S.P.S. 240-420
Morrow County’s Home-Owned Weekly Newspaper
SEARCH OLD COPIES OF THE HEPPNER GAZETTE-TIMES ON-LINE:
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Published weekly by Sykes Publishing and entered as periodical matter at the Post
Office at Heppner, Oregon under the Act of March 3, 1879. Periodical postage paid
at Heppner, Oregon. Office at 177 N Main St. Telephone (541) 676-9228. Fax (541)
676-9211. E-mail: editor@rapidserve.net or sykeschris@hotmail.com Web site:
www.heppner.net. Postmaster send address changes to the Heppner Gazette-Times,
P.O. Box 337, Heppner, Oregon 97836. Subscriptions: In Morrow County $35/year.
Outside Morrow County $40/year. In County Senior Rate (65 years or older) $30/
year. 9 month Student student subscriptions $35/year.
Chris Sykes ...............................................................................................Publisher
Annalynn Black ............................................................................................ Editor
Cindi Doherty.........................................................................................Advertising
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Spiritually Speaking
Father Thankachan Joseph
What do you hunger for most?
Whether we like it or not, we must admit that now
and then we forget the road that we tread. We cannot
have the joys of a new world without abandoning the
comforts of the old world. Instead of going forward to-
wards the Promised Land, the Jews continued to hanker
after the “fleshpots of Egypt.” And after having fed the
people with ordinary bread, Jesus offered them some-
thing far better, “the bread of eternal life,” but they
didn’t want to know about it. We ourselves are reluctant
to go beyond material things, yet what God offers us is
much better. The Book of Exodus (16:2-4, 12-15, 31),
describes the journey of the Israelites through the desert
towards the Promised Land. They had grieved dreadful-
ly under the strong hand of the Egyptians, who treated
them as slaves. Moses had led them out of slavery with
the assurance that the Lord would provide them with the
land He had promised. But they had a strenuous journey
across the desert, and we see them grumbling, complain-
ing about the difficulties they face in the wilderness, and
they preferred to go back to Egypt. “Why did you bring
us out of Egypt, to die in the heat of this desert; to die of
hunger and thirst in this hostile land? There is no food
and not a drop to drink. We did not have our freedom
in Egypt, but we had our flesh pots! Why don’t we go
back?” These reactions are often our own when we are
faced with new challenges and unknown situations as
we journey through life. We prefer to retreat, we prefer
“the flesh pots of Egypt,” our past addictions and hab-
its, even though they may have kept us in bondage. In-
stead of surrendering to God and putting our lives in His
hands, we let our desires and the past control our lives.
The Gospel of John (6:24-35) reminds us that the
people came back to the place where Jesus had multi-
plied the loaves and the fish and fed the multitude, but
Jesus was not there, and they went in search of Him.
When they found Him, they said, “When did you come
here? How did you get here? We were looking for you?”
At face value it would look commendable that the peo-
ple were searching for Jesus. But Jesus confronts their
searching. “I know why you were looking for me! You
were not really interested in me, you wanted bread, and
you wanted to fill yourselves!” Jesus then adds, “Do not
look for this food that perishes but look for the things
that will really satisfy you!”
Like the crowds that were searching for Jesus, there
are many times when we, too, are searching for Jesus.
But are we really searching for Jesus or for the things
that he can give us? So often we are searching for God
so that He might listen to our prayer, might heal us,
might give us a good job, so that we might …. The list
can go on and on. The test is whether we keep search-
ing and believe when we do not get what we want from
God. Are we looking merely for the blessings of God or
are we satisfied with the God of all blessings?
Jesus in response to the crowd reminds them that it
was not Moses who fed them but His Heavenly Father.
But Jesus wants to give them something even better than
what Moses gave his people. He is ready to give them
the bread that satisfies, not earthly bread but spiritual
food. He is ready to give Himself. But they must be-
lieve, they must let God into their lives. Jesus is trying
to raise their minds to higher realities, but they prefer
to satisfy their mundane desires. He wants God to be
their food, they prefer food be their God. Jesus desires
to raise them to the level of God, but they prefer to bring
God down to their level. They said to Jesus: “Give us
this bread to fill our stomachs, always!” But Jesus says:
“I want to give you something even better, the bread that
will fill your heart forever.” Instead of telling God how
He should act in our lives, can we let Him be the God of
our lives? We are invited to re-examine what we hunger
for. Do we look for Heavenly things or mundane things
of this world? That doesn’t lead us to God.
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Obituaries
Dona Gail Cobretti
Dona Gail Cobretti, 76,
of Heppner, died Saturday,
July 20 th , 2024, at her home.
A graveside service will
be held 11 a.m., Saturday,
August 3, 2024, at the Riv-
erside Cemetery in Siletz,
Oregon.
She was born on Sep-
tember 4 th , 1947, in Des
Moines, Iowa, the daughter
of Ron and Betty White
Fitch. She also had a stepfa-
ther named Richard Brown
she was very close to. Dona
was raised in Forest Grove,
Oregon where she graduat-
ed from high school.
Dona was married to
the love of her life, Carlito
Cobretti, for 23 years. The
couple lived at Oregon City
for a time before moving to
Heppner in 2013 where she
lived until her death.
She had many hobbies;
baking, fishing, hunting,
and oil painting which she
did on metal, wood and
canvas.
Survivors include her
husband, Carlito Cobret-
ti, son’s Stacy Sherman,
Thomas Sherman and An-
drew Sherman, stepchil-
dren, Maria Deason, Carl
Schmidt, Patrick Copell,
Kindra Schmidt, and Carry
Schmidt and grandchildren,
Justin, Nicole, Tommy, Jes-
sica, Nikki, Joseph, Michael
and Hannah.
Dona was preceded in
death by a son, Johnny Vern
Sherman and a daughter,
Kristina Gail Sherman, par-
ents, Ron Fitch and Betty
Brown, Grand parents Da-
vid and Rose White (Dona
had a special bond with
Grandma Rose), and broth-
ers, Tom Fitch, Jack Brown
and Marvin Brown.
Sweeney Mortuary is
in care of arrangements.
You may sign the online
condolence book at www.
sweeneymortuary.com.
Mary Patricia Pierce
Mary Patricia Pierce
was born December 29,
1949. She was adopted by
the Gene and Faye Pierce
family, which, at the time,
included older brother
Mike. By 1953 they were
joined by sister and broth-
er, Martha and Greg. The
family moved to Heppner
in 1957 and sister Molly
joined the family in 1958.
Mary graduated from
Heppner High School in
1968 and then attended
Blue Mountain Community
College, gaining her dental
assistant certification. She
worked as a dental assistant
in Portland for several years
before moving to Arizona,
where she worked as a wait-
ress, making many friends
there.
She returned to Oregon
in the mid ‘80s and married
Steve Anderson of Heppner
in 1989. Their son John was
born in 1994. The couple
later divorced.
Mary had lived in The
Dalles for the last 20-plus
years.
Mary is survived by
son, John Anderson (She-
reya), granddaughter, Ava,
of Arlington, and sisters,
Molly Rhea, Heppner, and
Martha McQuinn of Pend-
leton, as well as several
nieces and nephews. She
was preceded in death by
her parents and brothers,
Mike and Greg.
Mary, a homemaker,
was a devoted mother and
grandmother. She loved
snow skiing and water ski-
ing, the Pendleton Round-
Up and tennis, both watch-
ing and playing.
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OTLD monthly happenings
Summer Reading is in
full swing! If you haven’t
signed up for your FREE
Page Turner’s Virtual Sum-
mer Reading program -
contact Annette or Melissa
for the login instructions!
Go to the Summer Reading
tab at otld.org for more in-
formation.
Crafty Nights @ the
Library will be on August
14 th at 6:00 pm. Register
online or call 541-676-9964
to reserve your spot.
This months new book
list, Adult Fiction: Acts
of Forgiveness: A Novel -
Maura Cheeks A Sudden
Country: A Novel - Kar-
en Fisher Chasing End-
less Summer: A Novel - V.
C. Andrews Last Chance
Gulch - B. N. Rundell
Lights, Camera, Bones -
Carolyn Haines Our Little
Secret - Lisa Jackso
Did you know that
WorkSource Oregon offers
free, year-round, virtual
workshops for job seek-
ers covering interview-
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and state job applications?
Workshops for both Span-
ish and English speakers are
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Job & Career Resources
page for all the latest net-
working ideas.
Morrow County Sheriff
Office scam alert
PHONE SCAM
ALERT
There is a new phone
scam, caller is saying they
are from the Morrow Coun-
ty Sheriff’s Office and that
you have a warrant and need
to pay them***THIS IS A
TOTAL SCAM***They
have even spoofed the Sher-
iff’s name and the office
phone number***THIS IS
A SCAM***
HANG UP and call
the Court or the Sheriff’s
Office.
We will not call you
to tell you, that you have a
warrant.
We will not call you to
collect money.
If you get such a phone
call, please DO NOT GIVE
THEM ANY INFORMA-
TION OR MONEY, hang
up and call the court or the
Sheriff’s Office 541-676-
5317.
Specials 8/1 8/7
Thursday-Philly cheese steak fries
Friday- Turkey Cucumber bagel sandwich and
pasta salad
Saturday- Chili dog and jojos
Monday- Chicken bacon ranch wrap and chips
Tuesday- Orem Farms Round Steak, potato salad,
and roll
Tuesday Night 6-9pm $2 hard shell tacos
Wednesday- chicken avocado salad
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