[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 12]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 17441-17442]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        HONORING COLBY MARSHALL

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. GREG WALDEN

                               of oregon

                    in the house of representatives

                     Wednesday, September 29, 2010

  Mr. WALDEN. Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute and express 
gratitude to Colby Marshall, a very special individual who recently 
traded in his public service in the Congress for public service in his 
community and dedication to his family's half-century old ranching 
business in eastern Oregon.
  Colby was born and raised in the rural high desert area of Burns, 
Oregon, near Riley, where his parents Gary and Georgia still operate 
the Broken Circle Ranch. Colby recently returned ``home on the range'' 
after 8 years of selfless service to the people of Oregon's Second 
District. His transition to the ranching business continues a proud 
family tradition five generations in the making.
  In 1993, Colby graduated from Burns High School and went on to attend 
college at Ambassador University in east Texas, where he met his 
beautiful bride of 15 years, Shelley, whose family has ranched in and 
around Pendleton and been involved with the world-famous Pendleton 
Round Up Rodeo and Happy Canyon Pageantry Show for 100 years. Together, 
Colby and Shelley have two wonderfully charming children: seven-year-
old daughter Hadley and nearly-four-year-old son Wyatt.
  Colby graduated Magna Cum Laude with a bachelor of science in 
agriculture business management in 1999 from Eastern Oregon University. 
He worked several jobs to put himself and Shelley through school: he 
drove a mail carrier truck, tutored his peers, worked at

[[Page 17442]]

the local grain co-op, and fought wildfires with the elite La Grande 
Hotshots. He still found time to rise to president of the student body. 
Little wonder he was honored with the Outstanding Agriculture 
Graduating Senior Award and Outstanding Student Leadership Award.
  Colby got his first taste of Congress as an intern for Chairman Bob 
Smith, my predecessor in the Second District, on the Committee on 
Agriculture. Post-college, he worked for Pendleton Grain Growers before 
serving as Eastern Oregon University's alumni and government relations 
director. While there, he oversaw the formation of an alumni board of 
directors and helped lobby successfully for $32 million to construct 
the EOU Science Center, a state-federal-private shared enterprise.
  In 2002, I made the very wise decision to hire Colby. He remained in 
my office for the next 8 years. Colby spent 2 years managing my central 
Oregon office in Bend before moving with Shelley to Washington, DC to 
manage natural resources and energy policy.
  Colby helped shepherd key bipartisan bills through the legislative 
process, including the Forest Emergency Recovery and Research Act, the 
Secure Rural Schools and Community Self Determination Reauthorization, 
and the Mount Hood Stewardship Legacy Act. Colby managed a package of 
bills aimed at improving watersheds and water supply--an exceedingly 
important and delicate issue in the arid lands of eastern Oregon. The 
Oregon Water Resources Management Act contained four different acts--
all became law with overwhelming bipartisan support.
  The last major act Colby handled was the Healthy Forests Restoration 
Amendments Act, which would give federal foresters the tools they need 
to bring our sick national forests back to health and put people back 
to work in the forests again. This bipartisan legislation is vital to 
the rural West. I am hopeful we will carry across the finish line the 
good work that Colby started.
  Colby returned to eastern Oregon in January 2008 to open my office in 
La Grande--the first ever congressional office on the east side of the 
State. In July 2009, Colby moved to Bend to once more manage the 
central Oregon office while continuing to oversee the operation in La 
Grande.
  In March 2010, Colby transitioned out of my office and returned to 
the family land and livestock business. He is now a manager of the 
Broken Circle Company, the holding company for Broken Circle Ranch. He 
and his family live on the ranch 27 miles outside of Burns. His 
daughter, Hadley, attends the same one-room school that Colby and his 
mother both attended.
  My colleagues, please join me today in paying tribute to Colby and 
his family as they turn to their new form of service. His unfailing 
dedication and faithful service will not soon be forgotten by myself or 
the many people whose lives he enriched through his outstanding work. 
While I will miss his counsel, I look forward to his close friendship 
for many years to come.

                          ____________________