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Blanche Harper, the 2010 Crook County Pioneer Queen, said she has spent a lot of her life on horseback.
At 80 years old, lifetime Prineville resident Blanche Harper had given up hope that she would be chosen as the Crook County Pioneer Queen.
“Most of them are chosen just after they turn 70,” she said.
But, after 10 years as an eligible candidate, Harper was chosen as the 2010 Pioneer Queen.
In addition to meeting the 70-years-or-older age requirement, Harper met the other critical criteria necessary to become Pioneer Queen.
According to Jerry Brummer, Pioneer Queen Committee Chair, a Queen must be a Crook County resident and have had ancestry in Prineville dating back to 1916, the year the current Crook County borders were established.
“She comes from a pioneer family,” Brummer said. “She has been here a long time.”
As Queen, Harper is looking forward to the yearlong duties that come with the title.
“It is a big honor,” she said.
Her first appearance will take place at a potluck held in her honor at Pioneer Park on Aug. 1. In past years, the event has been a picnic rather than a potluck, but Harper prefers the potluck “so that everyone is sharing.”
In addition to the potluck, Harper will make an appearance at the Crook County Historical Society first quarter meeting and ride a float in the Crooked River Roundup Parade next summer.
The parade appearance will not be a first for Harper, but it will be the first one since her childhood when she rode in the parade on horseback.
With the exception of three years of her life, Harper has lived in Prineville. In fact, not much separates her current and childhood home.
“I’m across the fence from where I was raised,” she said.
During her many years in Prineville, Harper has seen her home town undergo a variety of changes, leaving the community looking much different than it did growing up.
“They had boarded sidewalks,” she remembered in particular, adding that many of the streets were still unpaved as well.
For more than 30 years, Harper has kept busy delivering mail.
“I delivered mail practically everywhere in the county,” she said. “I went to Mitchell and Paulina.” To this day, she will make deliveries. “If the need arises, I go,” Harper said.
While she has devoted at least three decades to mail delivery, she has spent even more time participating in 4-H, first as a member, then a leader.
“I have been in 4-H since it has existed (1928),” Harper said. “That has been the thing I have participated in the most and pushed the most.”
For her, 4-H has a lot to offer for people in a variety of ways.
“It’s the best program there is for training young people,” she said. “They learn by doing.” Harper went on to say that 4-H provides training in agriculture, livestock, sewing, cooking, and more.
Harper will serve as the Crook County Pioneer Queen until next summer, at which time a new Queen will be chosen.
