Jill Durow were named Wasco County Pioneers’ 2019 Woman of the year.
Contributed photo
John Brookhouse was named Wasco County Pioneers’ 2019 Man of the year.
Contributed photo
John Brookhouse and Jill Durow were named Wasco County Pioneers 2019 Pioneer Man and Woman of the year at the 97th annual meeting of the association, held at the Fort Dalles Readiness Center.
Attendees had the opportunity to view 80 of the association’s collection of over 250 historic picture boards at the May 4 meeting, which was opened by outgoing president Bill Gustafson after a traditional salmon luncheon. The Pioneer Man and Woman for 2019 were then announced by Carolyn Wood.
John Brookhouse
John Brookhouse’s great-grandfather, Richard, arrived in Pennsylvania in 1850 and homesteaded in Tygh Valley in 1860. He met and married Ann Jane Clark from County Mayo, Ireland. Their son William, John’s grandfather, was born in Wasco County in 1864 and married Johanna Shelly from Tipperary, Ireland.
Shortly after 1860, Richard Brookhouse bought the Woolery place, 320 acres on the Great Southern Railroad route four miles east of Fairbanks over the hill from Celilo. Richard and his son William were farmers.
John’s father, Joseph R. E. Brookhouse, was born in Wasco County in 1912. His mother was Edna Muriel Walsh, who was born 1917 in Yamhill County.
John was born and raised in The Dalles; his father worked construction and they traveled all over the Northwest—one year he attended five different grade schools due to frequent moves.
He said sometimes he would be ahead and at another school he would be behind; it all averaged out.
He returned to The Dalles and graduated from The Dalles High School in 1962. He worked with a rock-crushing machine and drove trucks hauling fill for construction projects. On one job his foot was caught in a rock crusher and he spent many weeks in the hospital recovering.
After that accident John attended Clark College and received a degree in accounting. He came back to The Dalles and discovered a love of motorcycles while working at Allen’s Cycle Shop. He loved traveling throughout Oregon and California on his motorcycle, and eventually owned his own business repairing motorcycles and snowmobiles.
John took care of his mother Edna until her death and at that time developed a great interest in history and genealogy.
John put together a program about the history of the steamship construction above Celilo Falls and about the town where the upriver ships were built. This town, Celilo, was between the portage site above the falls and the mouth of the Deschutes River, over the hill from the family farm.
With the advent of the railroad all need of the town ended and it disappeared. He presented this program at the Original Court House in March and to the Pioneer luncheon May 4th.
John is an active member of the Wasco County Historical Society and the Original Courthouse. He has inspired the Society to sponsor two Poker Runs, raising funds to help maintain the Rorick House. He is also a member of the Mid-Columbia Car Club and the Snowmobilers Club.
Jill Durow
Jill Durow’s great-grandfather, John W. Hix, came to Wasco County in 1887 and settled at Kingsley. He was also a freighter between The Dalles and Prineville. He later served on the Wasco County Commission when the The Dalles-California Highway was built and is credited with its present location.
In 1883 he married Flora Tate in Indiana and they had eight children. Their oldest son, Simon Hix, married Georgia Fraley in 1910 and farmed in the Kingsley area, where their daughter Prudence (Jill’s mother) was raised and attended school; she became a school teacher.
Jill’s father, Art Muller, came to Wasco County in the spring of 1912 by railroad car to a homestead three miles north of Shearers Bridge. The fifth of nine children, he attended school in Tygh Valley and after attending the University of Oregon he took over operation of the family store in Tygh Valley. He met and married Prudence Hix and they had three children. In 1948 he sold the store and moved to The Dalles, operating a Case Farm Implement business and later a Datsun car dealership. He was also a member of the Fair Board, Kiwanis and Pioneers.
Jill was their third child and grew up in The Dalles.She graduated from The Dalles High School in 1973. She traveled to Germany for her junior year abroad and then graduated from Lewis and Clark College in Portland.
After graduating she taught at Madison High School in Portland for 13 years. She had an avid interest in Oregon history and was a very active member of the Clackamas County Historical Society.
Returning to The Dalles in 1989 to manage the Muller Family Investment Inc., she became an early supporter and active board member of The Gorge Discovery Center and Museum and the Wasco County Historical Society, and was the primary groundskeeper of the Rorick house and is currently Society president.
She has been the registration chairman for the Wasco County Pioneer Association for more than 10 years.
In 1993 Jill married Dan Durow.
She is a member of the PEO sorority and St Paul’s Episcopal Church and past president of The Dalles Kiwanis.
The Wasco County Pioneer Association holds its annual meeting the first Saturday in May. Anyone with an interest in history of Wasco County may become a member.
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