Gallagher named rodeo Grand Marshal

Georgia Gallagher, a long-time Sisters resident and the 1944 Sisters Rodeo queen, has been named Grand Marshal for the 2006 Sisters Rodeo parade.

In the role, she will ride in a carriage at the head of the June 10 parade and also be introduced at rodeo performances that weekend.

Gallagher has been involved with the Sisters Rodeo from the beginning. Her father, Ellis Edgington, was one of the organizers of the rodeo in 1940. She often rode horseback in the parades with her parents even before being selected as queen in 1944.

“We would ride down to town from our ranch south of town, ride in the parade, and then ride back home,” she recently recalled.

Her father had homesteaded two miles south of Sisters in 1912. Georgia was born there and later attended Oregon State College, graduating in foods and nutrition in 1944. The following year, she took an internship in her major in Chicago and married Vincent Gallagher in 1945.

After living in Redmond for several years, the Gallaghers moved to Salem. There Georgia worked as a dietitian for several state institutions, including Hillcrest, the State Tuberculosis Hospital, Dammasch Hospital in Wilsonville, and the Oregon State Hospital. During this time, they had three children. One son and two grandsons now live in Bend, another son in Salem, and a daughter in Eugene.

When her husband retired from the Oregon Department of Transportation in 1975, the Gallaghers moved to Sisters to live in her parent’s former home where she had been born.

“I didn’t retire, I just kinda quit,” she said.

Her memories of past rodeos include the 1944 rodeo brochure sealed in plastic and a 1944 photo of her with two rodeo princesses on horseback in front of Hotel Sisters.

“I was frowning in that picture because I couldn’t get my horse to behave,” she recalled. “I still have that hat, but I’ll have to see what shape it’s in before I will wear it. I think it’s a little worn at the corners.”

Following her husband’s passing in 1981 Georgia continued to be active in the community. She was a volunteer EMT with the Sisters-Camp Sherman Fire Department for 19 years. She has been active in the Sisters Garden Club, OSU Extension, American Association of Retired Persons, Deschutes County Historical Society and a genealogical society in Bend.

The 66th Sisters PRCA Rodeo will feature four performances on June 9, 10, and 11. Tickets may be purchased at the rodeo office at 220 W. Cascade Ave. in Sisters or by calling 549-0121 in Central Oregon or 800-827-7522 out of the area.