PENDLETON — Like many of us, Cliff Banister likes to see an American flag rippling in the breeze.

Banister, however, isn’t content to simply hang a flag outside his home on holidays. He finds the highest, most inconvenient places to fly Old Glory and maintains them year-round.

It all started eight years ago.

Banister worked for Pendleton Grain Growers, maintaining grain elevators and moving and receiving grain. When United Grain Corporation bought PGG in 2016, Banister stayed on and now is nearing his 40th year tending the elevators.

One day, at an elevator in Athena, he noticed a pole protruding upward from the roof. Someone thought it was a lightning rod, but the curious Banister went up to the roof to check. He saw that the rod was an old flag pole with a rusty ball on the end.

“That thing needs a flag on it,” Banister remembers thinking.

This wasn’t so simple. The 25-foot pole had no rope or cable with which to maneuver the flag into place. Banister rigged something with steel cable and pipe, got up on a ladder and attempted to winch the flag to the end of the pole. When that didn’t work, he kept tinkering. Three days later, the flag was flying. He connected a paint roller to an extension rod and painted the ball at the end of the flagpole. Still, he wasn’t done.

“Of course, then you have to have flag lights,” Banister said. “I put up a light with a timer on it to light up the flag every night.”

The result was downright satisfying.

Banister loved seeing the American flag flying from atop the towering elevator. He began eyeing other company-owned grain elevators.

He decided Athena’s other elevator also needed a flag. This one didn’t need so much MacGyvering. Next, he added Old Glory to elevators in Helix and Adams. Later, he attached flags to other grain elevators, including McComas (in downtown Pendleton), Juniper (near Helix), Sparks (south of Pendleton), Fulton (north of Pendleton) and Pilot Rock.

Several didn’t have poles. Some of his PGG buddies made them from pipe and threaded them. Climbing up the stairs while dragging a 18-foot steel pole was a bit of a chore, but it worked. Later, he used telescoping poles that were easier to maneuver.

Occasionally someone calls the main office to express thanks for Banister’s efforts, but that isn’t why he persists. For him, it’s simple.

“I like the American flag,” he said. “It looks good up there. The United States is the country that everyone aspires to come to. I’m proud of my country.”

Flying an American flag isn’t a simple matter of hanging it and forgetting about it. There is upkeep. Flags fray. Bulbs burn out.

“American flags last roughly three months,” Banister said.

Initially, he bought the highest quality flags until he realized they didn’t seem to last much longer than the inexpensive ones. These days he buys 3-foot-by-5-foot flags from Walmart at $7.74 each and stockpiles them. Bulbs generally burn for several months before they need replacing.

Banister gets around to the elevators in the course of his job at United Grain, though not every elevator is in use at the moment, so he makes special trips for those.

Retired Helix Athletic Director Wayne Miller, who enjoyed looking at the banner on the Helix Ground Pile structure as he drove to work each morning from Pendleton, marvels at Banister.

“He gave a lot of his time and spent a lot of his own money,” Miller said. “Not just everyone would do that.”

United Grain’s Pacific Northwest Manager Jason Middleton is also a fan of Banister and his quest to keep flags atop the elevators and ground piles where Banister spends so much of his time.

“It really runs deep with Cliff,” Middleton said. “His dad worked there. He has a long heritage.”

United Grain project manager and head millwright Matt Moore describes Banister as an excellent worker who loves not only flags, but stray animals and kids. Moore said Banister coaches junior high cross-country coach. He also often takes pity on cats and dogs that show up at the elevators, sometimes driving them to the veterinarian if they are sick or injured.

“He’s a good-hearted guy,” Moore said.

He’s also a rabid University of Oregon fan. Several years ago, Banister hung an Oregon Duck flag at the McComas elevator in Pendleton on the same pole as the American flag. He admired the effect, but his elation was short-lived.

“This lady called the front office and said, ‘You need to take that flag down immediately or else,’” he recounted with an impish grin. “My boss had to go up and take that one down.”

Most years, he hangs a Pendleton Round-Up flag on McComas each September during the rodeo.

Banister doesn’t plan to stop tending his flags any time soon. The effort, he said, is worth it.

“I like driving by them at night,” he said. “That’s when they look the best.”