News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
This photograph of Jerry Ambler riding Cyanide at the Sisters Rodeo in 1942 appears in the book. Four years later Ambler was World Champion Saddle Bronc rider.
Rodeo fans (or those looking for a Christmas gift for someone who is a rodeo fan) might want to pick up a copy of “Oregon Cowboy Country.”
The book is an oral history collection of 29 interviews telling the personal stories of rodeo cowboys and their families over the past 50 years, including several from Sisters and Central Oregon.
The Sisters Rodeo is mentioned throughout the collection with one whole chapter devoted to an interview of Rich Rollins, 2004 Sisters Rodeo Parade Grand Marshal and his wife, Margie.
Another chapter is an interview with Mike Mehring of Sisters recalling his friends in the rodeo world.
“Oregon Cowboy Country” is the second in a planned series of 12 books by Doug and Cathy Jory of Hines, Oregon, that captures the experiences of rodeo performers ranging from every-day cowboys to world champions.
Photographs highlight the book with performers and rodeo locations identified, including Sisters. Stories are told about small town rodeos at Paisley and Spray and the big one at Pendleton.
With many photographs, even the name of the bronco or bull is provided.
“I ran the Western Fence Company in Pendleton for 30 years before my wife and I moved to Hines,” Jory said. “My grandfather was a stock contractor for the Pendleton Roundup. I inherited a collection of rodeo photographs that got us thinking about doing an oral history of rodeo. We traced down many of those cowboys in our photographs or their families and we came up with 50 interviews.”
The Jorys published that collection as “An Oral History of Rodeo from Pendleton to Calgary.”
Their exposure to rodeo history and the stories they heard got them interested in doing more.
That led to the first of their Rodeo America Series covering rodeo performers in North and South Dakota and eastern Montana.
The Jorys made three trips to the area to conduct the interviews. Oregon rodeos came next.
“Our next volume in the series will cover the State of Idaho,” Jory explained. “We already have the interviews lined up.”
Outpost 1, the Jory’s publishing company, published “Oregon Cowboy Country,” a 187-page paperback book printed by Maverick Publications in Bend.
It sells for $21.95 with copies available in Sisters at Paulina Springs Books and at Leavitt’s.
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