Glenn Miller is the driving force of Sisters Rodeo

Sisters resident and area contractor Glenn Miller is the driving force behind the Sisters Rodeo. Miller has served as the association's president for eleven years, the last nine of which have been consecutive.

"Glenn Miller and Sisters Rodeo are probably the same word," said rodeo association vice-president Curt Kallberg. "Without Glenn Miller we would probably have a rodeo but we wouldn't have this quality of a rodeo."

Even a serious automobile accident earlier this spring has not slowed down Miller.

"They got hit head on. ... It was awful," said long-time association board member and Sisters chiropractor Bonnie Malone.

"Most people would have said, hey, I've got to rest, recuperate, but not Glenn Miller. I mean he just keeps going," said Kallberg. "He was in severe pain but still out here every day and still is."

Miller "truly loves doing this," said association treasurer John Rogers. He inspires the association's all-volunteer work force to do what needs to be done and see projects through to completion at the privately owned rodeo grounds.

Miller is the reason improvements at the rodeo grounds happen, such as the addition of the box and plaza seats and the new secretary's office.

"He's a real motivator and driver in making this better and better every year," said Kallberg. "I would say Sisters Rodeo ... is probably Glenn Miller's life and hobby and everything else."

"It's like this. It's rodeo, then his business and then either his wife or rodeo again. This (the rodeo) is such a passion for him," said Malone.

In the past the rodeo association had a policy that its president served a two-year term. Since Miller has taken the reins, this policy has been broadly amended.

"Glenn has been president now for 10 plus years. ... We could elect somebody else ..., but nobody could do it that good," said Kallberg. "Why reinvent the wheel? We have the best wheel in the business. There's no sense in going backwards."

Whatever the need for major improvement projects, Miller brings his equipment, tools and employees and donates everything.

"You can imagine if we did not have that. ... It would be a different rodeo," said Kallberg.

This year the PRCA (Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association) asked the Sisters Rodeo Association to provide better office space for the PRCA secretary. According to Kallberg the association could have satisfactorily updated the space the secretary has used for years.

"Well no, not in Glenn Miller's world," said Kallberg. "We had to add on and make it the best rodeo secretary's office maybe that they have. Fixing something up is not an option. It's more, how can we make it ... the best of all the rodeos."

Miller has also been instrumental in assuring that the funds the rodeo association adds to each rodeo event's purse make the Sisters Rodeo the largest event in the nation the weekend of the rodeo.

It is the money that draws the cowboys, and Miller does not take this lightly. Miller wants the highest caliber cowboys and cowgirls to compete in Sisters. Sisters gets to see the best there is "because we keep our prize money up," said Kallberg.

For Miller the adrenalin rushes each year before the rodeo and the let-down is strong at rodeo's end. "He hates to see it come and go so soon ... even though you are completely worn out by the end of the fourth performance. It's kind of a let-down to him to have it over with for the year," said Rogers.

Miller works for the rodeo nearly 365 days a year.

"I'm sure very few days out of the year go by that Miller is not either thinking about it or doing something," said Rogers. Yet, he is always soft spoken, and he never gets mad. "Those shoes are so big.... You almost have to be around him to see it. He's very modest," said Kallberg.

According to Malone, the Sisters Rodeo Association received the Columbia River Circuit award for the best rodeo in the circuit in 2006 because of Miller's penchant to make rodeo contestants happy and comfortable.

The contestants "feel like they are coming home every year," Malone said. The Sisters Rodeo always provides a welcoming camping area for its contestants to enjoy. Because of Miller, Sisters is not just another rodeo; it is special. And contestants look forward to coming back year after year.

Miller is the cement of the Sisters Rodeo, a leader's leader, a motivator's motivator. Everything Sisters provides is better than other rodeos from its box seats to its concessions to its parking on grass. Miller has never been happy with just having a rodeo, and because of this the Sisters Rodeo gets better and better every year.