WAITSBURG – In honor of the City of Waitsburg's sesquicentennial, the Waitsburg Historical Society found it fitting to commemorate its own history by recognizing the two surviving members of the society's founding group as Pioneers of the Year. Bob Patton and Dona Jean Smith hold that honor.

The Waitsburg Historical Society was founded in 1971 and the original board included Roberta Broom, Jan Zuger, Joe Abbey, Dorothy Kison, Bettie Chase, Dona Jean Smith and Bob Patton. Carolee Jantz joined the board shortly afterward.

The Waitsburg Historical Society was formed to renovate the former Fanny Weller Library, which was once considered the finest home in Waitsburg, belonging to the Bruce family. Over the years, the empty house fell into disrepair and was even rumored to be haunted. The Waitsburg Historical Society was founded to take on the monumental task of restoring the historic home.

Local organizations, businesses and individuals aided in the restoration, but the Waitsburg Historical Society assumed ongoing management of what is now an entire museum complex consisting of the Bruce House, the Carriage House, the Wilson-Phillips House, and the Wilson-Phillips Garage. Local pioneer families have donated many of the artifacts on display in the museum's buildings.

Bob Patton

Bob Patton can recount his family history back to his great, great, grandfather, General George Patton, who emigrated from Scotland to America and fought seven years in the Revolutionary War. Bob's great grandfather, James Patton, fought in the Civil War as part of the Ohio Company.

James Patton took a mini ball in the arm during the war, which rendered it partially useless. He eventually came to live with his son, F. S. (Frances Seymour) Patton, in Waitsburg. F.S. was Bob's grandfather and he owned a Mercantile in Waitsburg.

F.S. married Dall Neace, daughter of Waitsburg pioneer Lewis Neace who helped build the Mullan Road, the first wagon road to cross the Rocky Mountains into the Pacific Northwest, before he settled to farm in the Waitsburg area. All of his children inherited farms, one of which was located on Weller Canyon and eventually passed down to Bob's grandmother, Dall (Neace) Patton.

Bob's father, Lewis Patton married Naomi Pollard of Huntsville, and eventually took over the Weller Canyon farm where Bob and his sister, Sereta (Patton) Robinson grew up. Lewis Patton made a living raising wheat, cattle and barley and Bob later took over the farm to do the same.

As a Waitsburg native, Bob said one of his strongest memories is of becoming ill in the second grade and having to take that year over. "That was the worst part of my life right there. I've never forgotten that," he said.

Bob said a heart murmur prevented him from playing football and a cut tendon in his hand – from tripping while carrying a jug of milk upstairs – prevented him from playing basketball. "I could play baseball, though, and I worked on the farm," he said.

Bob continued to work on the family farm following graduation and slowly assumed more responsibility as his dad's health failed. Bob has five children, who all lived at the farm: Kim, Brad, Lisa, Linda and Chris.

As an adult, Bob enjoyed singing with the Waitsburg Quartet until 2008, when a series of strokes affected his larynx and he couldn't hit the high notes anymore. The Waitsburg Quartet, which still performs regularly today, began with Jack McCaw, Bob Sickles, Lee Mantz and Bob Patton.

"Jack and I are the two originals. I really enjoyed that. We had a lot of fun and got to meet a lot of people," he said.

Bob also enjoyed acting in plays at the Liberty Theater. "I'd never been in a play before in my life until I did those. That was a lot of fun," he said. "I got to be the wizard in The Wizard of Oz. That was a good one!" he added.

Bob was a charter Lions member and served as president in 1973. "I think I might be the only charter Lions member left as well," he said.

When the Lions were trying to figure out if they could help the city with the Bruce House restoration, Bob stepped forward to become a member of the newly formed Waitsburg Historical Society.

Bob said cleaning and painting the property was quite an undertaking. "There was so much paper and stuff in there, I couldn't believe it. We found where kids had snuck in there so it's a wonder it hadn't caught on fire," he said.

Today, Bob lives with wife Kathy at their home in College Place. He said they bought the home because the backyard overlooks Lyon's Park. Bob says he now takes care of home duties while Kathy works in the Tri-Cities as executive director of Fieldstone Memory Care.

"I do everything a woman would do, except have babies," Bob said with a grin. "I also lift weights at the YMCA three times a week and walk the loop around Pioneer Park," he added.

Dona Jean Smith

Dona Jean Smith said she wasn't sure about accepting the honor of being named Pioneer of the Year because her side of the family doesn't have ancestral roots in Waitsburg. However, Dona Jean has been an active and vital part of the community since she married into the Smith family and moved to Waitsburg in 1953.

Dona Jean was born in North Dakota, on the fourth of July in 1933, and recalls traveling by train to Washington with her parents, Jay and Fern Weeks, when she was three-years-old. Jay was in the lumber business and Dona Jean grew up with siblings Kathy (Weeks) Payne, Betty Lou (Weeks) Branson, and James.

Dona Jean completed her first three years of high school in Dayton and said she was extremely unhappy when the family moved to Lind, Wash. during her senior year. "I was really upset. I did not want to leave Dayton and my friends. It wasn't funny at all," she said.

After graduation, Dona Jean moved to Walla Walla to attend nurses training at St. Mary's hospital. The student nurses lived in a dormitory-style building across the street from the hospital, at that time. Dona Jean laughed as she shared the "kinda funny" story of how she ended up in Waitsburg.

"I was studying to be a student nurse at St. Mary's and Howard's dad (Jake Smith) was in the hospital and wanted me to meet his kid who was coming to visit. I got tired of waiting, turned around to leave, and ran right into Howard as he was coming in.

"He decided he wanted to take me out and I really didn't give a darn – I had a couple of other guys I was seeing at the time. But that's how it all started. I must have fallen in love with him," she said, smiling.

Dona Jean quit nurses training to marry Howard Smith, and the couple lived in his grandmother's house on Main Street. Howard was born and raised in Waitsburg and grew up with sisters Jill (Smith) Wood and Lassie (Smith) Wittman.

Howard and Dona Jean raised four children together: Howard Smith Jr., Debbie (Smith) Davison, Laurie (Smith) McKinley, and Pam (Smith) Hermanns.

When Howard's father passed away, his mother, Frances, moved into the "town house," and Howard and Dona Jean moved to the family farm on Miller Road, just southwest of Waitsburg.

"Only Howard's family has lived in this house and no one had farmed the land until Howard's granddad did," said Dona Jean.

"I had never lived on a farm until I married Howard," she said. "Everyone else liked to ride horses and I remember them lifting me onto one of the girls' horses and I was scared to death – screaming and crying!"

Dona Jean said she quickly learned to pitch in with farm duties and recalls feeding harvest crews of up to 15 men on the side porch of the house.

Between the kids and the farm, Dona Jean was always busy, but still managed to participate in service organizations and school functions, and was an active member of the Presbyterian Church.

Her favorite group was the Odako Club which raised funds for scholarships.

"We just had a lot of fun. We had picnics and all that kind of stuff that girls like to do," she said.

Dona Jean said she has always been interested in old houses and thought the Bruce House restoration project was right up her alley.

"I had so much fun. My good friend Carolee Jantz and I painted inside and I remember climbing up on that high ladder and thinking 'Holy Cow!' It was a good time," she said.

Dona Jean said she was one of the younger ladies involved in the restoration and that she, Carolee Jantz, and Anita Baker did much of the inside work. She does admit to wondering if they were ever going to be able to get it all done.

"But it came together quite well. We kept what we could that was original in most of the rooms and families in the community have been really good about giving things to the museum," she said.

"Waitsburg has always been supportive and interested in what we were trying to do. We had a lot of support," she added.

Times file photo

Dona Jean enjoys reading and relaxing on the screened in side porch of the family farmhouse.