Stangier to lead 2021 Westward Ho! Parade
By Terry Murry on Tuesday, June 1st, 2021 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
PENDLETON – Native son Bob Stangier will be the grand marshal of the 2021 Westward Ho! Parade on Friday, Sept. 17. Born in 1923, Stangier graduated from Pendleton High School in 1942. He began volunteering at the Pendleton Round-Up at the age of 12 in 1935.
Stangier is a decorated World War II veteran, serving in the Army Air Corps as a B-25 bomber pilot. He flew 70 missions while stationed in Italy. He earned the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with seven clusters for his service.
After the warm, Stangier attended Oregon State University (then called College) and returned to Pendleton where he began his business career. He and his wife, the late Mary Jane Stangier, raised four children. He now has four grandchildren and several great-grandchildren.
In addition to the Round-Up, Stangier has been an active volunteer with numerous other community organizations. Those include the Pendleton Chamber of Commerce, the Pendleton Downtown Association, Rotary Club, and the Umatilla County Historical Society. He believes the only rodeos he missed came during his four years of military service.
As president of the Chamber of Commerce in 1975, he also served as an ex-officio director on the Round-Up Board of Directors. It is believed he is the oldest living Round-Up director.
