ONTARIO – The seventh annual Vale High School Alumni Association Hall of Fame banquet is set for Saturday, Oct. 26, at Four Rivers Cultural Center.
The event will kick off with a no-host happy hour at 4 p.m., followed by dinner at 6 p.m., according to Bobbi Buttice, an event organizer.
This year’s honorees are Brian Wolfe, former Malheur County sheriff; Sarah Rodriguez, owner of Luzetta’s Flowers; and the Buxton family, longtime Vale residents and former farmers in the area.
The Buxton family moved to Vale from Utah in 1952, according to attorney Bob Butler, who nominated the family’s 10 children. All attended attended Vale High School.
Butler added that the six boys, Delos, Max, Dwayne, Bill, Boyd and Gary and four girls, Susan, Sharon, Jolene, and Carol, had to spend nearly all their efforts keeping the farm going and supporting their families. Butler wrote that each child attended the Vale school system.
Over the years, Butler wrote, the children had successful careers while four served in the military. One, Delos, was killed in the Vietnam War, according to Butler. Butler wrote that eight of the Buxtons attended college, with two earning doctorate degrees. The seven Buxtons alive today have “openly given credit” to Vale schools for the successes in their lives.
Rodriguez, longtime owner of Luzetta’s Flowers and Gifts at 168 A St. E. in Vale, was nominated by Iran Trenkel with help from Shannon Steele, an English teacher at Vale High School.
From employing local high school students to teaching wreath making during the holidays and providing boutonnieres and corsages for the high school’s homecoming court, Trenkel wrote that Rodriguez is very “community minded.”
“She is a planner, a mover and a shaker,” Trenkel wrote.
Wolfe, a Vale High School graduate and Malheur County’s 15th sheriff, was nominated by Gertie Delong.
Delong wrote that Wolfe, who retired as sheriff last year, volunteers at several community functions, mentors both the “young and old” and is generous with “time and money.”
Respected in the community, Wolfe was the county’s sheriff for over a decade before stepping down last year, she wrote
Buttice said tickets for the event are $50 per person. In a phone interview on Friday, Oct. 18, she said the event had been sold out, but a few tickets were left due to last-minute cancellations. Those interested in purchasing a ticket can call Buttice at 541-823-2900 or by email at [email protected].
News tip? Send your information to Steven Mitchell to [email protected].
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