 On Saturday, March 22, a young Glenwood family was honored with the 2025 Klickitat County Cattlemen of the Year award at the Cattlemen’s Banquet. Travis and Kelly Miller and their children Natalie, Haylee, and Luke were recognized for their dedication to their Quarter Moon Ranch operations and their contributions in helping to sustain ranching in Klickitat County.
There to celebrate with their kids were their parents Harry and Chris Miller, Laurie O’Leary, and Jeff and Sara Link, along with many of their friends. Travis and Kelly reside on the beautiful ranch built in the 1940s by Travis’ great-grandparents, Harry and Agnes Miller.
Harry and Agnes raised their grandson Harry there on that beautiful ranch along Lakeside. When Harry Sr. passed away in 1952, Agnes operated the ranch by herself, along with young Harry. In the 1960s, the United States government began purchasing ranches and other land all around the area of the vast Conboy Lake to create the Conboy Lake National Wildlife Refuge. While others did sell, Agnes refused to sell her 687-acre ranch that she and her husband had worked very hard to establish. It took a years-long court battle but Agnes prevailed and saved her ranch for future generations of her family. It was an awesome display of true grit and determination as a widow stood up to the federal government and refused to back down.Â
After college and military service, young Harry brought his wife Chris to partner with his grandmother in the ranch operation. After Agnes passed away, Harry and Chris operated the ranch with their children, Vicky and Travis. Ten years ago, Travis brought his wife Kelly to live in the old house on Lakeside and partner with his parents to operate Quarter Moon Ranch.
Travis and Kelly began their separate operation of the ranch, with much help from his parents over the years. It’s great to see Travis and Kelly teaching their young girls about ranching and getting them involved in nearly every aspect of the operations. Little Luke, although just barely crawling now, will soon be on a horse helping gather cattle, too. In addition to ranching, Travis is involved in other county organizations and has served as an officer and director of the Glenwood Rodeo Association and on the Glenwood School Board for 12 years, many of those as chairman. This honor is well deserved and we here in Glenwood are proud that yet another hard-working Glenwood family has received the Cattleman of the Year award. Congratulations, Travis, Kelly, and children.
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I would like to give a shout out to the Glenwood Homemakers for all they do for our community. On Friday, March 21, they gathered at the Grange Hall to begin a very thorough spring cleaning. That deep cleaning was way overdue as the Grange membership has dwindled and a lot has slipped through the cracks. That great little hall serves as a community gathering place for meetings, birthday and graduation parties, and even Thanksgiving dinners for families whose homes aren’t large enough to accommodate all their relatives. Thank you, Glenwood Homemakers for taking on this huge task and for all else you do for our community.
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I recently had a brief visit with Grace Griffin, daughter of Kara and Dan. Grace graduated with the Glenwood High School class of 2024 and is now attending Eastern Oregon University in LaGrande. Grace is an education major and maintained a 4.0 G.P.A. for both fall and winter quarters. As if that isn’t exciting enough, Grace was recently selected for a study abroad program in London this summer. Grace will spend a month attending University College London, taking elementary education classes. That is a great achievement for her first year of college and we here in Glenwood are very proud of her. Congratulations, Grace.
Another Glenwood kid, Moira McLaughlin, a Trout Lake Elementary fifth grader and daughter of Bridget and Jay, competed with her Elementary Destination Imagination team at the State competition the weekend of March 22. Out of all the schools in the competition, Moira and her team brought home a great trophy for their third place finish. We are very proud of you, Moira.
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On April 16 at 6:30 p.m., the Klickitat PUD will host a public meeting to discuss water rates and any other concerns. All Glenwood PUD customers are welcome and encouraged to attend.
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Here’s another important date to mark on your calendars. The Glenwood Women’s Club will continue the decades-long tradition of hosting a community Easter Egg Hunt for the young children of the community on Saturday, April 19. This year, the Hoodenpyl family has graciously offered the use of their beautiful park on Main Street. Although there is some winter blowdown and a lot of cleanup to do, a group of volunteers will soon meet there to remove the dangerous leaning tree and other debris from the various winter storms. If for some reason the park isn’t ready for use by the 19th, we’ll spread the word of an alternate location for that morning. The hunt begins at 10 a.m. and I’ve been told the Easter Bunny, despite having a very full schedule this year, is hoping to be on hand to have photos taken with the children and help them search for eggs.
This year we’re using plastic eggs with candy inside and some are marked as money eggs, for amounts of 25 and 50 cents and $1. Some will also be worth bunny bucks donated by Glenwood General Store. The children can redeem their bunny bucks at the store for tasty treats. All are welcome to attend. It’s always a lot of fun. A huge thanks goes to the Hoodenpyl family, the clean-up crew, Claude McKenzie and the Glenwood General Store, and, of course, Easter Bunny.
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This is a few weeks away but here’s a heads up from Mrs. McLaughlin regarding an important upcoming event on April 22. The Glenwood School will be hosting a suicide prevention evening sponsored by Klickitat County Prevention Coalition and the Veterans Administration for the community, educators, veterans, students, and families. This presentation will be given in all the schools in Klickitat County. There will be childcare and dinner provided on that evening and Mrs. McLaughlin hopes to have a big turnout.
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Mary Pierce writes about the community of Glenwood every other week in Columbia Gorge News. Please send any news items to gmpierce09@gmail.com.
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