2024 Pioneer Queen Mari Sams Tester
Mari Sams Tester, the Queen of the 130 th Pioneer Picnic, was born in 1943 on the Umatilla Indian Reservation. Her family has a strong history in the area. The Sams family arrived in the Walla Walla Valley from Missouri after joining a wagon train on the Oregon Trail in 1843. Mari already had relatives living in the valley as she comes from the lineage of Chiefs on her paternal side. Mari’s paternal great grandfather, John B. Duffy grew up in Frenchtown and later moved to Walla Walla. He married Clara Bonifer, who was a Chippewa Indian. They had several children including Mari’s paternal grandmother, Mary Delvina Duffy who married Charley Sams. Mari’s great grandparents farmed near Thorn Hollow.
Mari’s parents, Chuck and Ruby Sams both attended boarding schools. Her father Chuck was born and raised at Thorn Hollow and moved to Weston in 1947, living there until his death in 1998. Her mother Ruby was born and raised on the Fort Peck Reservation and was South Dakota Souix. They had 10 children. Mari attended grade school and high school in Weston, graduating in 1961. She moved to Arizona for a short time, then in 1962 moved to Pendleton where she met John Tester. They married and in 1965, welcomed a daughter, Tonyia. Mari worked for Pacific Northwest Bell and the family moved to Portland and Seattle and had many opportunities to travel. Mari retired in 1998 and moved to Walla Walla in 2005.
Queen Mari Tester has fond memories of the Pioneer Picnic. She remembers the races, setting up the pavilion and getting out of school to attend the show. She loves returning each year to reconnect with family and friends.
2024 Parade Grand Marshal Sheldon Delph
The first members of Sheldon Delph’s family arrived in the Weston area in 1877. The Taylors, McCorkells, and Fachnies settled on Read and Hawley Mountain, around the Fairview School community, and several family members still own those original homesteads. Sheldon’s great-grandfather served on the school board for Fairview School on the mountain for nearly 40 years, and his wife Emily Warner was occasionally the teacher there, as were at least two of his nieces.
Sheldon’s maternal grandfather, Don Johnson, and maternal grandmother, Lauretta McCorkell Johnson, graduated from Weston High School in 1926 and 1930, respectively. Sheldon’s parents, Bob Delph and Lyn Johnson, graduated in 1949, and Sheldon graduated in 1969.
Sheldon’s parents owned the Weston Market (grocery store), and as a young guy with energy, Sheldon’s dad served with the Umatilla County Pioneer’s Association from 1952 until his death in 2010. Sheldon’s mom continued to be active with the Association until shortly before her death in 2016. Bob and Lyn were Queen and Grand Marshal in 1996.
Sheldon is the oldest of six kids. His siblings are Duane, Tom, Rick, Ed and Janet.
He began his relationship with the Pioneer Picnic in 1957, at just six years of age, when his parents had him sit outside the Weston Market at the corner of Main and Water Streets, at a card table selling candy. He continued to work with Pioneer Picnic, working on the Parade and the barbeque, both of which began in the early 1960s, until he moved to Packwood, Washington in 1985.
Upon moving back to Weston in 2010, Sheldon resumed working with the Pioneer Association, writing grants, working on the new barbeque, and helping cater meals to support the organization.
Sheldon is also the only remaining original active member of the Saling House Restoration Committee, which began in 1975. He also served the City of Weston from 2012 to 2021 as the grants co-ordinator, securing nearly $7 million in grants for the City and its commissions, historic preservation projects, other organizations, including the Chamber of Commerce, the Weston Cemetery and Kees Blue Mountain Cemetery, the Pioneer Association, the Memorial Hall, the Weston Food Pantry, and property owners in and around Weston.
Sheldon taught school for 37 years, served as choir director for multiple congregations, and was ordained a preacher in the Church of the Brethren. He attended the University of Oregon as a music major before transferring to Willamette University as a history major and graduating in 1973. He received his Master of Education from St. Martin’s University in 2001.
Sheldon married Annie Hubka in 1979 and has two incredible kids from that marriage: Betsy, aged 44, and Tim, 41. They each have a daughter, Windilyn and Sawyer.
Annie and Sheldon divorced in 2000, and Sheldon married Heidi Scott in 2014. She has two sons: Kenny Sanwald and Chris Sanwald. Chris and his wife Siera have three girls - Helaina, Mila, and Elliana - who are also family to Sheldon.
Over the course of 25 years, Sehldon cared for 37 foster kids, mostly ages 12-18. He has worked in farming, construction, choir directing, teaching from 5th grade through college, call centers, historic preservation, and grant writing. His current major project is a history of Weston.
From Sheldon: I have known this year’s Queen my entire life, and while my ancestors settled here nearly 145 years ago, Mary’s ancestors precede mine in this region by nearly 25,000 years. I am so happy that this celebration is recognizing the people who were here before the Europeans, and I am incredibly honored to be this year’s Grand Marshal.