Enterprise native to serve as Pendleton Round-Up queen

Published 12:00 am Saturday, November 28, 2015

Princess Marlene Bodmer

The Round-Up Association named a new queen Saturday, but you can still call her Kylie.

2015 Round-Up Queen Kylee Jensen will cede the crown to the 2016 queen — 21-year-old Kylie Willis.

The Enterprise native and 2014 Round-Up princess is a dean’s list student at Lewis-Clark State College in Lewiston, Idaho, and has deep Round-Up roots. Candi Willis, her mother was a Round-Up princess, her grandfather Dave Turner was a stock contractor and her grandmother Darlene Turner was a longtime Round-Up secretary. Also, her great-grandfather Harley Tucker was one of the nation’s top producers of rodeo stock and one of Wallowa County’s most prominent ranchers.

Willis will be served by four Round-Up princesses.

Marlene Bodmer, 19, is a Blue Mountain Community College student and a Round-Up volunteer, continuing a family tradition going back to her grandfather and great-grandfather, who were on the Round-Up Board of Directors.

One of Bodmer’s volunteer duties was carrying the flag in the 2015 Round-Up grand entries.

“No thrill ride can compare to the adrenaline rush of hearing the firing of the cannon and taking a leap over the rail,” she said.

Makenzi Hughes, 18, is a BMCC student and is active on her family’s ranch in Heppner.

In addition to volunteering at the Round-Up, Hughes participates in Future Farmers of America and 4H and will follow in the footsteps of her sister, who was a princess in 2012.

Ashley Moore, 20, is an honor roll student at Oregon State University and an accomplished equestrian, having won English, western, dressage and barrel-racing competitions.

Eliza Wagner, 19, has been volunteering at the Round-Up since she was age 7 and was a pennant bearer from nine to her freshman year in high school.

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