[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 90 (Tuesday, June 3, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1105]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                HAPPY BIRTHDAY MRS. MONICA (RUHL) KINNEL

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. GREG WALDEN

                               of oregon

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 3, 2008

  Mr. WALDEN of Oregon. Madam Speaker, I rise today to inform our 
colleagues of a milestone event that occurred yesterday for a very 
special lady in the Grande Ronde Valley of Oregon. Mrs. Monica (Ruhl) 
Kinnel turned 100 years old yesterday and celebrated over the weekend 
in Island City, Oregon with many generations of her family and a legion 
of friends and admirers. Monica is an amazing lady who has led a 
remarkable and exciting life, and The Observer newspaper in La Grande, 
Oregon recently chronicled her adventures to date and I'd like to share 
with you some highlights from it.
  In July 1892 a land purchase was made on the outskirts of Alicel in 
modern day Union County that became the seminal grounds for a ranching/
farming family that has spanned five generations in the Grande Ronde 
Valley. Monica's grandparents, Henry and Anna Ruhl, purchased 338 acres 
near Alicel for $10,000 and assumed a $2,500 debt on the land. Their 
son Harry continued operation of the Alicel ranch and married Maude 
Gaskill whose parents owned a farm less than two miles away.
  Maude designed a ranch home that her father-in-law Henry built on his 
land. Built with brick from the La Grande brickyard and mortar made 
from sand from the Grande Ronde River, the home was completed in 1906. 
Two years later on June 2, 1908, Monica was born. Monica lives with her 
daughter and son-in-law, Sharon and Bob Beck, in the house she was born 
in 100 years ago.
  Harry and Maude were fun-loving and curious and involved Monica in 
life's happenings. Monica remembers an outing to Boise with her father 
when he bought a toaster. Monica asked him what he was going to do with 
it since they didn't have electricity. Harry replied, ``We'll be 
ready.''
  Monica was married to Bob Kinnel in 1930. They took over the family 
ranch, raising Hereford cattle and farming. They added more farm land 
adjacent to the Ruhl ranch and the whole became the Kinnel Ranch where 
they raised their family and lived until Bob's untimely demise at the 
age of 43 in 1955. Monica and Bob made a real team and raised three 
lovely daughters, Suzanne (who passed away in 1999), Joanne and Sharon. 
Sharon recounts that her parents had ``a love affair so powerful and so 
joyful that the two of them seemed to know something that no one else 
knew.''
  Willis Ketchum, who now owns a neighboring farm, and the girls who 
were then in their early 20s, rallied around Monica and pitched in to 
save the ranch. In the fall of 1956 Monica hired on a scrapping, ranch-
raised young man from Telocaset named Bob Beck. In just over a year he 
married Sharon and together they have added their own chapter to the 
family saga.
  Monica traveled the world with daughter Joanne and the United States 
with other family and friends. Monica's legacy of love and laughter has 
been imparted to her grandchildren and great grandchildren as well. 
Anecdotes abound, like the time she brought grandson Rob a male 
tarantula from California. He built a terrarium and the next year she 
took Rob to the same desert to release him. Another is when grandson 
Brad and some contractor working on the house witnessed Monica--then in 
her 80s--leave the house with a fishing pole and satchel ``to go catch 
breakfast'' and came back within 30 minutes with a 22-inch rainbow 
trout.
  Monica has always taught her family to live in the now, don't put 
things off til later as there may not be a later. Given the choice of 
describing her life as a hard-working, tenacious and productive ant or 
a carefree, live-for-the-moment grasshopper, Monica chose the 
grasshopper without hesitation. Her philosophy is ``live and let 
live.'' Fortunately for Monica and her family, she continues to live an 
exhilarating journey.
  Madam Speaker, on behalf of the United States Congress, I wish Monica 
Kinnel a very happy 100th birthday!

                          ____________________