Jim and Betty Woodward to serve as grand marshals of Painted Hills Festival

The grand marshals for the Painted Hills Festival have been announced in the lead up to the iconic Labor Day Weekend event in Mitchell.

“The Painted Hills Festival is honored to have Jim and Betty Woodward lead our parade on Aug. 31, in Mitchell this year,” Toney Ryno wrote in a recent announcement. “They both come with histories and great stories that go way back in the area.”

Both grand marshals have an extensive connection to Crook County and Prineville.

Jim was born in Prineville to Bob and Jane (Humphrey) Woodward, both longtime Wheeler County residents. He holds the framed invoice from the hospital where he was a costly baby at the time for $90. On his mother’s side, her parents had homesteaded in the Richmond/Waldron areas. Grandfather Jim Humphrey married Lizzie Keys riding horseback from Spray to Richmond to court Lizzie, who was the daughter of R.R. and Emma (Paul) Keys. All six of the Humphrey children attended the Waldron and Mitchell schools, where their father proudly served on the Mitchell school board.

On his father’s side, his Grandma Ruby (Mulvahill) McTimmond was born in 1883, along with her brother John (Charlie) later in The Dalles. Her family said she was speaking too much Chinese with the immigrant families in the area, so they had to move to Summit Prairie in the Ochoco National Forest; she attended Summit Prairie school. Ruby’s parents were great-grandfather Michael Mulvahill and Abigail (Ferguson) Mulvahill, who bought the ranch at West Branch in the Mitchell area from the Taylors when Ruby was 13.

Ruby married Brick Woodward also of West Branch and their children were Bob and Abbie (married Jock Humphrey). Bob Woodward married Jane (Humphrey) and stayed home on the ranch, having Jim, John and Charlie. Jim grew up at West Branch, riding the school bus into Mitchell for nine years, then went to school in Prineville for three years to play sports, excelling to Everett, Washington, with a college scholarship for football and baseball. He was recognized in the Elks all-star football game in 1959 and was second string all-state in baseball.

To be near Prineville with kids in school, Jim’s parents ran the Prineville Dairy Queen (located at the current site of the Sandwich Factory) for three years.

“They could peel 100 pounds of taters in one hour,” Ryno wrote. “Electricity had come to town about then!”

Betty’s family has deep roots in Crook County. She was born in 1943 to Carl and Thelma (Smith) Robertson along with brother, Jerry. Nine years later, brother Jack arrived. Her mother, Thelma, was raised at Grizzly, between Madras and Prineville. Thelma’s parents, Lon and Sylvia Smith, had five girls and three younger boys. They had a mill at Grizzly, then moved to Mill Creek and started another sawmill in the late 1920s. They then moved the sawmill from Mill Creek to the Ochocos, near where the Ontkos live, being awarded the first timber contract to cut timber in the Ochocos.

The girls, who were all older, attended the Howard School in the Ochocos. Lon was awarded the contract to cut the timbers that went into the fill of building the front of the Ochoco Dam. They then sold the mill, leaving the timber industry, and eventually moved near the Lamonta area in Prineville and farmed. The boys all went to school in Prineville.

Betty’s dad, Carl, worked in the Prine Products mill and drove fuel truck, then eventually had an appliance store.

“About the time TV arrived, they had the first local TV set in their store and were also one of the first homes with TV,” Ryno noted.

Her family was very supportive of all the sports; although girls were not able to play sports, she loved to watch. Her mom, Thelma, worked in the potato warehouses on Lamonta Road. In 1949, they moved to Culver and ran the grocery store there for several years with many good memories. After selling the store, they moved back near Grandma Sylvia — she is remembered as a wonderful woman with whom Betty had a close bond.

Jim met Betty at Crook County High School and eventually they married in 1959, during her junior year. They welcomed daughters, Carla in 1960, then Roberta (Bobbie) in 1961. Betty drove a 73-passenger school bus for 10 years, hauling the sports teams around and even helped coach the state championship track team. Her hobbies have included quilting, photography, and taking Crook County Fair pictures for 35 years, plus a “million” wedding pictures. At age 52, she started bowling in a women’s league, when a friend asked her to fill in a spot. Then she participated in the co-ed senior league. She improved to the point that she won the 1999 singles state championship after four years with a 218 total.

In 2012, Betty was inducted into the Prineville Bowling Hall of Fame. Betty also taught herself to paint and is an accomplished acrylic painter.

“One of her most interesting jobs has been her ability to find water as a water witch, helping others locating where to drill for water over the years,” Ryno wrote.

In 1959, Jim went to work in the Hudspeth’s sawmill outside Mitchell until it closed in 1961. Jim then went to farrier (horseshoeing) school at Oregon State University. He also worked for the state highway. Jim soon quit that and fell timber of Ochoco Lumber for five years. He then started his own logging company with the help of Ochoco Lumber for a few years. Next, he went his own way, falling timber on his own for 17 years. Jim also established a successful firefighting outfit. After a close call with fire, he personally built his own skidgen design to have water sprayers all around his six skidgens.

Jim and Betty built their current home at the site of the old Hudspeth sawmill and have been there ever since. Early on, they moved to Dayville for three years but moved back home when Grandfather Bob had cancer to help with the ranch in 1985. The girls went to school in Prineville, Hereford and Mitchell during the years, graduating from Crook County. A friend of the girls, Laura Edmark, lived with them during high school and went on to have a national career on the Army track team.

Jim and Betty helped raise grandkids, Heather (Mortimore) Earnest and Neeko Rachor during their high school years at Mitchell. During COVID, they even helped raise great-grandchildren for a bit. Their daughter, Bobbie, passed away at the age of 50.

Their three grandchildren, Heather, Neeko and Meesha all live in the Central Oregon area. They have 10 great-grandchildren, Cashlynn, Traycen, Cohen, Jaxon, Rylee and Gracie (Heather and partner Mitch’s kids), then Gunner and twins Sawyer and Leddie (Neeko and Jordan’s kids) and Justy (Meesha and partner Justin’s daughter). Daughter Carla is now married to “Super” Dave Groves.

“Mitchell can also thank the Woodwards for their support of kids in our community over the years, and their generous donation to our town’s electronic reader board today,” Ryno wrote. “We hope you can come out to see them at the festival this year!”