THE DALLES — The Wasco County Pioneers Association held its annual lunch May 3 in The Dalles, naming Karl Vercouteren and Anita Anthony Ordway its 2025 Pioneers of the Year.
Karl Vercouteren
Vercouteran followed the trail to Oregon by auto — not by covered wagon — first coming to The Dalles in 1977 from Kentucky to be the pastor of the United Church of Christ Congregational, where he served until 2008. His ancestors migrated from Holland and Germany, and he and his two brothers were raised in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. He majored in history at Lakeland University and graduated from UCC Theological Seminary in Minneapolis. He focused on Pacific Northwest history.
He joined the Original County Courthouse and has scheduled its February lecture series for 48 years and sings with the Cascade Singers. During COVID, he researched and wrote a blog that became two books, “All Together The Dalles,” and “Too,” for the architectural montage at 811 E. Second St. and was one of the historians who researched and selected the 15 murals for Mural Fest 2022. He also researched and wrote “Now Playing at the Vogt: The Dalles Forgotten Opera House” in 2017.
An active Kiwanian, Vercouteran organizes the lineup for parades and plans decorations for the Kiwanis’ train engine float. He also plays Christmas songs on the melodica for the Salvation Army donation kettle at Christmas and promotes music and history happenings to a long email list.
He and his wife, Jean, an educator and historian, have retired in The Dalles. They like to visit music festivals and family in Wisconsin. They have two children, Kris and Jacob, and one grandchild.
Anita Anthony Ordway
Ordway is a fifth-generation Oregonian. Her great-great-grandmother, Mary Pigget, came to America from Ireland, then traveled around Cape Horn by ship to Oregon. Her great-great grandfather, Milo Cushing, came to The Dalles with U.S. Grant’s troops on horseback to Fort Dalles. Her father, James Anthony, was a farm equipment mechanic, repairing tractors and combines.
Ordway is related to the Rondeau, Cushing, Howell, Oades, Anthony, Campbell, Remington, Wagonblast and Metteer families, all early settlers of north Wasco County.
She attended St. Mary’s School and graduated from The Dalles High School in 1960; she then attended beauty school in Walla Walla. She married her high school sweetheart, Gayle Ordway, who began a career in the Navy. They followed his military career while raising three children, a girl and two boys. They returned to the Willamette Valley in 1980, where her children finished school.
She was secretary for the Tualatin School District and he pursued a career as an electrical technician in telecommunications, commissioning telephone systems. They retired to her grandfather’s farm on Pleasant Ridge, where her mother grew up and where she has so many fond memories.
The Ordways joined the pioneer association, and she has served as secretary for about 10 years. She is also a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution and a historic costume designer and seamstress.
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Anyone interested in Wasco County history is welcome to join the pioneer association. For more information, contact the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center or Fort Dalles Museum.
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