Rory Noble
President
The majority of my business life has involved being in leadership roles within the food and customer service industry. It is sometimes a thankless job, but it’s also one full of positive interactions with many different people. I decided a bit later in life to continue, and finish, my college education. I spent a year studying at BMCC here in Baker City picking up many of the general courses I needed and then transferred to Eastern Oregon University to complete my degree. I graduated Cum Laude with a BA in Liberal Studies: Business & Communication in June of 2014.
My musical journey began when I was very young. I have seen pictures of wee little me in my high chair eating chocolate chips while my aunt did her homework. She said she almost always had the radio on. When I was a bit older, I remember her taking me to a nearby restaurant where she’d get me an ice cream and herself a float. They always had the radio playing one of the nearby radio stations (they still play the same music, it’s just considered “oldies” now). I continued the “tradition” of having music playing while I did my homework throughout my time in school.
I received my first guitar for Christmas in 1969 and began taking lessons. Those lessons only totaled five as the instructor wandered off somewhere on his own musical journey, so I used the instruction book and taught myself the notes and how to play chords. I think I wrote my very first song when I was 11. I can’t remember it now, so I’m sure it was about as terrible as one would expect for an 11-year-old.
Life threw a lot at me and my music took to the backseat for much of my adult life. Actually, it was probably in the trunk under the spare tire for most of that time. When I got involved with what would become Powder River Music Revue in September of 2022, I began to think about my music once again. I picked up my guitar and began playing after almost three years of not touching it. A friend gifted me a ukulele and I began teaching myself some chords. I began having ideas for song titles and lyrics and started the writing process after about a six-year hiatus.
I have had a love of music for the majority of my life and being a part of Powder River Music Revue allows me to share my love of music with others. Giving back to the community, especially with something so powerful as music, makes me feel like we are accomplishing something good; something that benefits our community members even though some may not understand that benefit. Music is a common language that helps to draw people together. Music can take us back in time to a certain event with just a few notes. Music can help heal the mind and the soul. Being able to help others in the community enjoy various musicians and musical styles keeps me interested in creating and playing music myself. My hope is that it gets others interested in creating and playing as well.
Marilyn Shollenberger
Vice-President
Marilyn was born into music. Her father’s family, consisting of his 5 brothers and 1 sister, were all musicians, as well as her father’s parents. There was always music around her, and when the family came to visit, the fun began.
Marilyn always had a deep desire to play the piano. When she was very young, her grandmother began taking her to church on Sundays. The community was very small and the church had a steeple with a bell and a rope to pull to start services. Marilyn acquired the job of pulling the rope at the age of 3. Sometimes, if she and her grandmother were a bit early, the pastor would let her plunk on the piano. This experience, along with her family background in music, triggered the desire to obtain and play the piano.
When Marilyn was eight years old, some family friends were moving to Canada and gave her their piano. Her first piano lesson consisted of her father grabbing his fiddle, drawing the bow over the “G” string and saying to her, “Find that note on the piano, Babe.” This process continued with the “B” note, followed by the “D” note. Then her dad said, “That is called the “G” chord. Within a week she was playing along with her dad to things like “Red River Valley” and “You Are My Sunshine.”
Marilyn and her dad continued to play music together until his death in 2000. During that time they played for numerous events in Baker County and outlying areas as far as Hermiston, Boise, and Walla Walla. By the time Marilyn entered high school, Pete Haynes, Marilyn’s father, had become an outstanding fiddler and they were competing in fiddling contests all over the state of Oregon. Pete and Marilyn won many contests, including placing in the top 3 of the state several times.
Very often during these events, Marilyn was asked to be the accompaniment for many of the fiddlers. Some shows she would play nearly constantly for 6 to 8 hours. After the contests were finished, folks would gather in groups and “jam” until midnight or later.
When Marilyn’s father was very ill with cancer, he called her to his bedside and said, “Babe, don’t let the music die.” After her father’s death, Marilyn and her husband Keith, continued on with the music. They played as a husband and wife duo until 2012 when Keith passed suddenly.
Marilyn had made a promise to her father to keep the music alive. She continued to attend jam sessions and keep in touch with her musical friends. During one of those gatherings, a dear friend of the family, Lonnie Shurtleff, asked her if she would play piano with him. They organized the duo, “Barefoot ‘n Bonafide.” They are currently playing locally and in surrounding areas.
Thank you, Dad, for making me promise: “DON’T LET THE MUSIC DIE!”
Lindianne Sappington
Secretary
Lindianne graduated from Princeton University, Class of 1976 in history. With her background in non-profit administration and community events production since the 1980’s, Lindianne joined the Board of Powder River Music Revue hoping to strengthen Baker’s musical culture and provide music students with performance opportunities.
Lindianne came to Baker in 2021 from Homer, Alaska at the invitation of Arthur Sappington. Colleagues for 33 years, Lindianne and Arthur were married in February, 2023. The couple are operating the non-profit Snake River Music Gardens, www.snakerivermusicgardens.org, with the food forest program for food self-reliance in Uganda, Africa, and here in eastern Oregon the teaching garden at 5th & D in Baker City including bee and pollinator research, Music Garden 4H Club, and several books as a research, writing and editing team.
A lifelong musician, Lindianne composed and performed the score for the PBS documentary Rewilding Kernwood. Lindianne serves as church musician for St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Baker City, and performs as a fiddler and singer-songwriter at community events in Baker.
A music educator with decades of teaching experience, Lindianne operates Baker Music Garden, teaching violin, viola, piano, guitar, ukulele, music theory and composition.
In 2023-2024 Lindianne plans to restart the community choir in Baker City
Marvin Sundean
Treasurer
David Adler
Board Member-at-Large
David Adler is a relative newcomer to Baker City and the PRMR board. David and his wife Marcy Edwards moved to Baker City in September 2021 from Sisters, Oregon, where they lived for over 16 years. During that time David volunteered regularly with the Sisters Folk Festival and served on its board of directors from 2017-2019.
David is a native of New York and obtained his BA from SUNY at Stony Brook in 1975. After spending time traveling and living in Colorado, he moved to Oregon in 1978 to attend Lewis and Clark School of Law in Portland and obtained his JD in 1981.
Following law school, David spent his 35-year career as an attorney with the federal government. He worked for the Bonneville Power Administration/U.S. Department of Energy as a Senior Appellate Litigation Attorney, specializing in energy and environmental law, and for 25 of those years also served as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon. David retired in 2017.
David and Marcy have been happily married for 38 years and are the proud parents of three wonderful children, including the world’s best daughter-in-law and a beautiful granddaughter. David joined the PRMR board in April 2023 to further his lifelong love of music and to help PRMR provide music to Baker City, expand its musical footprint in eastern Oregon, and create greater musical opportunities for the youth in our community.
Wayland Harman
Equipment Tech/Sound Guru
Wayland Harman returned to Baker City in 2020 to retire and play more music. He had previously lived here in the 80’s and early 90’s. His carpentry jobs at that time included work on the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center and Baker Tower renovations. He also served as president of the Baker Valley Pool and Shuffleboard League for several years and played pool with the Brew in Stein “A” team. That association also led him to be involved with the “North American Jew’s Harp Festival,” first held in Sumpter, Oregon back in 1993. Wayland was immediately fascinated by the music that graced this festival’s stage each year. It was here that he first saw a Didgeridoo, mouth bow and nose flute. His carpentry background and an inventive spirit inspired him to craft his own versions of the “mouth resonated” musical instruments he was introduced to at the festival. While discovering just how difficult it is to make a jaw harp of fine quality, Wayland’s tinkering ultimately led to the development of the “clackamore,” and some years latter, the “scratchamore.” These are a more percussive variation of the jaw harp and share the common thread of mouth resonated instruments; control through variations of the size and shape of the mouth.
Wayland is a singer/songwriter who doesn’t hesitate to share his compositions with the group at the weekly PRMR jam session. Since moving back to Baker City he began collaborating with Ron Yarnell, a local and regional Country music performer. Together they have crafted some very interesting and thought provoking songs.
Wayland’s work with PRMR began in the 2022 season when he offered to help with the sound system at our Sunday concerts. He has since become our regular sound man and sometimes a performer at our concerts. He is currently training to DJ at our upcoming Baker City public radio station, KBZR 89.9 FM, which should begin broadcasting by years end.