Just a little about me.

Vermillions' came from that area of France along the Swiss border.  They were Huguenots (Protestants) and fled France where they were being hunted down and killed by the Catholic Monarchy.  They arrived in England and lived in Ireland and Scotland, over time marrying and settling down.  One 13 year old boy named Giles sold himself into indenturement (trading specific time to work for someone in lieu of them paying your fare) for passage to the new world of the Americas.   He arrived here in what is now the United States in the late 1600s.   All Vermillions in the new world originally came from this 13 yr. old boy.   Texas Jack Vermillion who rode with Wyatt Earp was a family member.   I am of French, Irish and Scotch descent.  And yes I was born with auburn hair.  

I was born in La Grande, OR  in 1947 to Gerald and Alma Vermillion.  Dad had  been in the Army.  He had ended his long Pacific Theater service with being apart of the occupation of Japan.  They lived in a trailer which was set up with many other trailers for returning GIs near Eastern Oregon College located in La Grande.  They moved to an upstairs apartment overlooking the railroad station in La Grande and while there, I came along.  From there we moved to Perry, a little Rail Road town just West of La Grande in the Blue Mountains.

When I was 2 yrs old, Dad got a job in the Hermiston area and we moved there.   First in a little apartment on the North hill as you leave Hermiston for Umatilla.  The apartment still exist but has been moved to Punkin Center Rd.  Anyway we lived in several places in Hermiston and a housing project across the highway from the Umatilla Army Depot. and we also lived on the Depot.  and from there Dad bought a house in Stanfield OR.  My grade school and Jr. High years were in Hermiston School Dist. During this time I would mow lawns in the summer to have money to help buy school clothes , I charged $1.00 per yard.  I played a Cornet in the Jr. High Band.  My High School yrs were in Stanfield.  I played football 1 yr. until I noticed the guys in the stands where snuggled up with the girls and I was butting heads with guys I didn't even know.

  I started riding motorcycles at about 8 years old.   My cousin had a Tote Gote and friends over the years would let me ride their scooters, mopeds etc.

  So here are some pictures I found covering most of this time period, I don't have many pictures remaining of my past as they were destroyed in the Stanfield flood in the late 60s.

         
    I love the woods                     Summer in Victory Square                Freshman Stanfield                  Sophmore Stanfield
                                             a housing project in Hermiston                                                           check out the red hair

   
                  Senior Stanfield                        now at 58                  

For the first two and a half years of high school I worked for local farmers in the area, doing everything from Dairy farming, building corrals, haying, hoeing and picking melons, planting and cutting (method used to harvest) asparagus to name a few.

  I quit high school 3 months before graduation.  I had been working part time at the Chevron Gas station in Stanfield owned by Elton Frazier.  He liked my work enough to offer me a full time job and knowing I would have to quit school  to take the job, he intern would teach me all he could about auto repair and pay me a GOOD wage.  Now Elton made 90% of of his income in the Garage not from gas sales.  He had repair contracts with the Union Pacific Rail Road, Yakima Rendering Co. Multiple Local Farmers and many others.  He knew his stuff.  Well I don't have to tell you that it was a hard sell to get Dad and Mom to OK me quiting school.  In the long run I learned more reading, math and problem solving skills from Elton than I did in school.  And if I had it to do over,   I would quit school again.  I worked for Elton a total  of three years both part and full time.   One of the other older married guys that also worked at the station would let me borrow his motorcycle for days on end.  What a blast.  I finally broke down and bought my first motorcycle, a 1966 Honda 305 Scrambler.  Lots of cross country racing and exploring on that old bike.  I have been riding ever since.  At 18  I was sent for induction physical  and failed,  do to High Blood Pressure and a heart rhythm problem.  I Felt some what left out,  as the Vietnam war was starting to really get going.   I applied for work at the Umatilla Army Depot figuring I could help the war effort from this end. I was turned down after the heart rhythm thing was discovered during pre-employment physical..     I applied 3 times and on the 3rd time I walked from Stanfield to the Army Depot  and when I was being passed up again I told the Medic I was not walking all the way back to Stanfield without a job..  To which he said, " If you walked that far,   you got the job"..  I worked at UAD as a Ammo Handler then a Forklift Operator for a 2 -1/2  years.   Then I got a job at Eastern Oregon Hospital and Training Center as a Psychiatric Aide.   I got my GED, then moved through several positions IE, Alcohol and Drug Team, MR-DD services, Supervisory and Inservice training Dept.  In total I have about 18 years with EOH&TC.     I met and married my wife Helen while working at EOH & TC in 1970 and she soon went to work there also and put in about 13 yrs there.   I  also have several years with a private community based Group Home provider as a Skills Trainer. 

The first three years of marriage we bought some land, built a pickup camper, lived in that camper for a year and a half (with Helen's four kids from previous marriage) while we built our house which we still live in.

    We  rode Our Motorcycle daily to work from Hermiston Area to Pendleton.  And enjoyed many, many years traveling via motorcycle until Helen could no longer ride do to arthritis,  that was in about 1999, so I sold the Honda Shadow..  I really missed riding and I think it showed.  Helen talked me into riding again even if she could not and she bought me a motorcycle.  What can a guy say to that, except I do love this woman.....

We both went to work at J.R. Simplot Co. Hermiston Processing Plant in 1993.  We worked there until the plant closed  in November of 2004.   Helen has retired early at 62 and I am semi retired at 60 working part time. 

Helen and I became Ham Radio Operators in 1990.  We lost interest in participating in it  mainly because our local group received some expensive equipment from the government for a specific use and Helen and I among others didn't feel the equipment was being cared for as it should have been.  And equipment purchased by the group became toys for select individuals rather than sharing use and operational info..  After we lost our jobs with Simplot I got bored and dusted off a couple of 2 meter radios I still had left and began listening to local chatter and soon found myself joining in.  After finding that 13 wpm code requirement had been dropped, I soon upgraded to General Class.  Helen still is not to interested in getting back into Ham Radio other than to keep track of me when I'm Mobile.

This narrative is just an overview, leaving many specifics out.  I didn't want to bore you..   Oh ya, the map you see in the back ground is significant in that this map covers the entire area that I have called home.  La Grande, Perry, Hermiston, Stanfield and now Hermiston again sense Helen and I built our house here in 1971.

Copyright © 2005-2006 Steve Vermillion

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