SALEM — A former Umatilla superintendent and city councilor was recently honored in the Oregon House of Representatives.

The House voted unanimously to adopt House Concurrent Resolution 13 honoring George I. Fenton, who died in 2019 at the age of 88. The resolution is headed to the Senate for a vote there.

Kristle Wyant, Fenton’s daughter, said it meant a lot to her to hear state legislators praise her father’s life work on the House floor.

“It’s nice knowing people held him in such great respect,” she said.

The resolution states Fenton “will be forever remembered as a dedicated educator and a gentleman statesman who touched countless lives and made his community a better place.”

Wyant said after her father passed away, many teachers in Umatilla School District told her stories about his kindness during their job interview, or how he let them stay with the family while they tried to find housing, or even gave them a loan when they were struggling financially.

“There was so much I learned about my dad after he passed away, that I had no idea because I went off to college and left,” she said.

According to Wyant and the resolution, Fenton was born in 1931 in Harper and graduated from high school in Ontario. He lost both his parents by the age of 14 and worked hard from a young age, doing everything from shining shoes to digging graves.

He attended one term at University of Oregon before being drafted into the Korean War, serving in the Army, mostly in France, for about two years. Afterward, he used his GI Bill benefits to go to what is now Eastern Oregon University. He met his wife, Joyce Kroenlien, who was also majoring in education at the college.

They both taught school in Halfway until moving to Umatilla in 1978 after Fenton was hired as principal of the high school and junior high. He eventually became superintendent, from 1978 to 1996, and after retirement Fenton served on the Umatilla City Council from 1997 to 2015.

Wyant said before and after his retirement, her father was heavily involved in the surrounding communities, through the VFW, First United Methodist Church, Elks Club, Lions Club, Kiwanis Club and other organizations. He was also known as a snappy dresser, she said, who used to have contests with other men at church about who could dress the best.

“You didn’t see him without a suit and tie very often,” she said.

Wyant, who still lives in Umatilla today, ended up going into education and was hired by her father to teach in Umatilla six years before his retirement. Her sister also eventually became a teacher, although neither had originally planned to follow in their parents’ footsteps.

“Mom would come home and tell stories and I would say, ‘I never want to do that!’” Wyant said.

Her family set up a scholarship at Eastern Oregon University in memory of Fenton.

Wyant’s son, Jacob Vandever, works for Rep. Christine Drazen, R-Canby, who introduced the resolution.

“Strong communities are the backbone of our society and strong leaders are built by leaders like George Fenton Jr.,” Dranzen told representatives before the vote.

Reps. Greg Smith, R-Heppner, and Bobby Levy, R-Echo, both testified in favor of the resolution as well, sharing their memories of Fenton. Smith said Fenton will go down in history as a “statesman, a visionary and a leader of Umatilla.” Levy said she went to church with Fenton for a time, and she appreciated the advice and encouragement he gave her before she got married and his kind note of condolence he sent her when her ex-husband died.