2023 Pioneer Queen Connie O’Harra

The O’Harra family was among the first settlers to call Weston home.  Daniel and Clarrisa O’Harra orginally farmed in Indiana and raised a family of nine boys and one girl.  As the Civil War heated up, they moved their family to Missouri, but two of the oldest boys joined a wagon train heading west and eventually landed at a stage station called Weston in Oregon.  They sent word back that this area had fertile land and would be a good location to call home, so the rest of the family came west in the Spring of 1865. 

The homestead was purchased in the foothills of the Blue Mountains where the family raised wheat and cattle.  Today the same land is farmed by Jeff O’Harra, the sixth generation of O’Harras to work this Century Farm.  Lelan O’Harra, Jeff’s father, continued to raise cattle for some years, but eventually moved the farming operation to strictly agriculture. Although the products produced by the farm have shifted somewhat over time, the fundamental characteristics of the family have not – in the main, they have all been farmers; hard-working, community-supportive people.

2023 Parade Grand Marshal Charles Betts

Charles Reeve Betts grew up on the farm near Adams. His grandparents, Charles and Fannie Betts, moved from New York to Helix following their marriage in 1901. Charles worked for a mercantile store in Helix. Kohler was born in 1904 and his brother Reeve was born three years later at their home in Athena where they had moved to operate another store owned by the same family in Helix. In 1915 the Betts family made a decision to start farming, partially because of Charles’s health. They rented 300 acres near the forks of the Walla Walla River. Good neighbors helped in guiding and assisting the newcomers to life on the farm, where horses provided the power for all transportation and pulling farm equipment. Kohler and Reeve attended Forks Elementary School.

In the year 1918 an opportunity came to buy the farm near Adams-Athena that has now become Betts Ranch. Kohler and Reeve rode horseback to school in Athena and later they both attended Willamette University. Reeve went on to become a doctor and Kohler came home to assist his parents on the farm and eventually took it over. Kohler married Belle Anderson and they had two children, Charles and Kay. Kohler lived to be 99 and then the farm was passed on to Charles. Charles and his wife Shireen raised three children on the farm, Melinda, Molly and Andy. They all helped out on the farm growing up.

Charles has continued to farm for many years raising crops of wheat, peas and canola. Andy has taken over all the farming responsibilities for the last few years along with his daughter Alex.

Charles is honored to have been chosen 2023 Grand Marshall of the Pioneer Picnic.