<I>Elane Dickenson/Chieftain</I><BR>This year's Wallowa parade grand marshals, Colleen and Bob Evans, share a moment on their porch in Wallowa, where they have spent all 61 years of their married life.

Bob and Colleen Evans, mainstays of the community of Wallowa for most of their adult lives, will be waving to the July 4 crowd lining the street as grand marshals of Wallowa’s Old-Time Fourth of July Parade at 1 p.m.

While they joke that the parade committee “must be running out of people,” the couple admits to feeling honored by their selection.

Both have been in the Wallowa parade in past years – Bob with local war veterans and Colleen in a float a few years ago when the seniors of the town were honored.

The Evanses are both natives of Wallowa County with deep roots.

Colleen, 82, daughter of Frank and Mary McClain is a member of the McClain family that originally settled in the county in 1872. Bob, 83, grew up in Wallowa, the son of a mill manager.

The couple both graduated from high school in 1945, Bob in Wallowa – though he missed his graduation because he’d joined the U.S. Navy – and Colleen in Enterprise.

They didn’t meet, however, until he returned from war-time service in the Pacific, and she was working for the U.S. Forest Service in Enterprise. He went to work there, also. According to Colleen, “he bumped me,” forcing her to look for another job.

They have differing memories of their early relationship. “She chased me,” he said, while she claims, “I couldn’t stand him. He was always coming in and teasing me.”

Both smiled at each other fondly as they recounted their early memories. The couple was married in 1949 and celebrated their 61st anniversary in June.

They’ve lived in Wallowa for all the years of their marriage, with the exception of a year when Bob was called up from the reserves to serve his country again in the Korean War.

After coming home, he ended up going to work for Don’s Food Store in Wallowa, and ended up retiring in 1992 after over 30 years.

The couple raised two children in Wallowa, Valerie who was born in 1951, and Bob born in 1953. Colleen was a Cub Scout Den Mother and 4-H Leader, while Bob served as chairman of the Wallowa School Board when they were in school.

There have been many ups and downs for the couple, and life’s greatest blow to the couple is that they have survived both of their children; their daughter died in 1983 and their son in 2009.

Through the years, the couple stayed involved and contributing to their community.

Colleen served for many years on the county election board in the courthouse, and both the county and city library boards. She was on the city board more than once, retiring for good the last time when she turned 80. A participant in Red Cross fund drives, Colleen was also a charter member of the VFW Auxiliary and also joined the American Legion Auxiliary.

For his part, Bob Evans served two terms as mayor of Wallowa and is a former Wallowa Fire Chief. He is also a past Commander of the American Legion in Wallowa and a charter member and past president of the Wallowa Lions.

The life’s accomplishment of which he is probably the most proud is being a charter member of the Wallowa County Health Care District board that built a new hospital. “It was a lot of work,” he recalls. “Everyone thought we were crazy.”

Bob cut the symbolic ribbon at the new hospital in 2007 and retired from the board in 2009 as the last remaining charter board member.

Bob and Colleen Evans have more than earned their place of honor as grand marshals in Sunday’s Wallowa Fourth of July parade.