100 Years Ago

Sept. 21, 1921

There’s another town in Pendleton today. Its population numbers a minimum of 500 souls — that was the estimate this morning — and it is growing by leaps and bounds, at the same rate that has often been recorded in the case of campes who are centers of oil finds or newly discovered gold fields. In this case, the twelfth Pendleton Round-Up is the attraction. Housed under white and khaki canvas, the residents of “Little Pendleton,” drawn here from every section of the United States, are fraternizing in the auto camp grounds at the east end of the city. Every conceivable kind of camping and cooking outfit is doing service. There are several carloads from the eastern border of the country. Vermont, Florida, Ohio, several cars from Wisconsin and other states are well represented.

50 Years Ago

Sept. 21, 1971

The McNary Golf Club is important in the life of Gene Hiatt, manager of the Umatilla Toll Bridge. And the club is about to take on a new meaning for Hiatt. Friday, at 2 p.m., Hiatt and Fern Gilham, owner and operator of Fern’s Beauty Shop at McNary, plan to be married on the golf club’s hole No. 9. Why did they select No. 9? The prospective bridegroom says he made a hole in one on that green a few years ago. Hiatt worked for five years in expanding the club’s facilities and helping bring it up to what is considered an excellent 18-hold course. He was president three years and one of the club’s most dedicated members. Hiatt’s father, the late Ursel Hiatt, also figured prominently at the club, and the lake on the course is named for him.

25 Years Ago

Sept. 21, 1996

Customer service is alive and well and exists in the person of Sharon Parker, who postponed collecting hier $100,000 Powerball winnings to handle hungry Round-Up crowds at Kentucky Fried Chicken. Sharon and her husband, Ronald Parker, knew Sunday that they had drawn the 100th winning Powerball ticket sold in Oregon, but they didn’t leave for Salem to pick up their $72,000 check — their actual winnings after taxes — until Monday. Sharon Porter decided instead it was more important to stay and push the poultry to hungry patrons during Round-Up. “She knew it was Round-Up week so she decided to work,” said Kentucky Fried Chicken owner and manager Karl Lutz. “We have great employees working for us.” And working for the Colonel is what the 55-year-old Sharon Porter will continue to do, for now. “It’s going to mean debt-free retirement,” she said.