Sunday, February 24, 2019

Proprietor Witt-Miller: Cougar Country will be back 'stronger than ever' (Whitman County/Colfax Gazette Feb 14, 2019)





Proprietor Witt-Miller: Cougar Country will be back 'stronger than ever'

By Alysen Boston, Gazette Reporter

Whitman County (Colfax) Gazette Feb 14, 2019

((Signs are seen Tuesday outside Cougar Country.))

After KXLY News in Spokane reported Friday an employee claimed Cougar Country, Pullman's beloved drive-in diner, was closing, the rumor hit social media with people who described themselves as employees taking to Twitter and Facebook to detail the business's troubles, namely bounced paychecks.

Rhonda Witt-Miller, whose parents opened Cougar Country in 1973, said she will be coming out of retirement to take control of the business.

"I truly believe that we will survive, and we'll come back bigger and stronger than ever," she said. "As for customers, please be patient."

Currently, Witt-Miller is applying for financing to remain open, and she said the business will again serve customers once it's approved. She estimated that will be sometime next week.

Witt-Miller, who retired from the business in 2014 after a heart attack, said her number one goal is to pay her employees.

"The crew, the managers, everybody here has worked their butts off," Witt-Miller said. "They deserve pay for working. No one should work for free."

((A sign posted Feb. 8 outside Cougar Country Drive-In is seen Tuesday. The restaurant remains closed.))

She said she also intends to improve customer service and pay suppliers.

Witt-Miller took over Cougar Country's operations after her father died in 2008. After an accountant discovered the business's numbers weren't adding up for more than a year, Witt-Miller said she suspected money was being stolen.

"I will have it investigated," she told the Gazette.

On Friday, following rumors of the closure, Witt-Miller said the drive-in had a huge turnout.

"It was like everyone wanted their last burger," she said. "It made me cry."

Witt-Miller said she's had an outpouring of support from the community, with employees volunteering to work Friday and some residents offering money.

"It's overwhelming," Witt-Miller said. "My husband keeps saying, 'Quit crying, baby,' but, you know, it's my life."

Monday, February 11, 2019

Pullman Herald, Wed., Aug. 20, 1980, editorial and obituary about Oscar Gladish



Pullman Herald, Thur., June 22, 1967, obituary for Janet Riley Gladish


READ ABOUT OSCAR GLADISH, PULLMAN'S INSPIRATIONAL LEADER


=Obituary in Pullman Herald: Rites held August 1980 for Oscar Gladish, longtime school, civic leader

=Pullman Herald Aug. 20, 1980, editorial about Oscar Gladish, 1879-1980

=Funeral rites June 1967 for Janet Riley Gladish, wife of Oscar Gladish, long-time Pullman High principal

=Oscar Gladish, namesake of Gladish Community & Cultural Center in Pullman: Pullman Community Update, July 2018

=Timeline: Some of the key points of Oscar Gladish's life

=They called him Mr. Gladish: Pullman Community Update, August 2018

=Photograph of Oscar Gladish ‘a two-dimensional image of a figure with considerably more depth’

=Pullman 'Walk of Fame' tile honors Oscar Gladish, longtime Pullman High principal, former Pullman mayor
=Oscarfest2020 in Pullman, July 2020









Photos of Oscar Gladish, Gladish Community Center in Pullman and more
















































PHOTOS/SOURCES:


·       Gladish kids’ artwork on wall of Gladish Community and Cultural Center. 


·       Oscar Gladish photograph in back (parking lot) entryway to Gladish center. 


·       Oscar Gladish as a Linfield College (McMinnville, Ore.) student from Linfield “Oak Leaves” yearbook. 


·       Oscar Gladish from 1952 Pullman High School “Kamiaken” yearbook. 


·       Door of administrative office of Gladish Community and Cultural Center. This was formerly office of Oscar Gladish, Pullman High School principal. 


·       Photos of Oscar Gladish and one Pullman High School exterior from Whitman County Historical Society “Bunchgrass Historian.” 


·       Oscar Gladish Pullman downtown “Walk of Fame” tile acknowledges his service as Pullman mayor. 


·       Back (parking lot) entrance to Gladish Community and Cultural Center. 


·       Front exterior of Gladish Community and Cultural Center.


·       A front entrance (facing SW State Street) of Gladish Community and Cultural Center. 
·       A front entryway (facing SW State Street) of Gladish Community and Cultural Center. 



RESEARCH/WRITING
--Tim Marsh

FOOTNOTES/SOURCES:


--"Oscar E. Gladish: Rationalist, Principal, First Teacher." Submitted by Wylie Johnston for an English-History 513 course at Washington State University. Jan. 28, 1970.


--"Oscar E. Gladish, Principal of Pullman High School, 1929-1963," by George A. Frykman. Volume 8-4 (Winter, 1980), Bunchgrass Historian, Whitman County Historical Society.

--"By the Gods You're Fired: A Story of Oscar Gladish," by Donald E. Guinouard. Volume 35-1 (2009), Bunchgrass Historian, Whitman County Historical Society.
--Pullman Herald, Lewiston Tribune, Spokane Chronicle, Portland Oregonian, McMinnville Telephone Register, Pullman High School Hi Times student newspaper and Linfield College Oak Leaves yearbook.
THANK YOU FOR ASSISTANCE:
--Ed Garretson, Whitman County Historical Society Archive, Pullman.
--Mark O'English, Manuscripts, Archives and Special Collections, Washington State University Libraries, Pullman.



Pullman 'Walk of Fame' tile honors Oscar Gladish, longtime Pullman High principal, former Pullman mayor

Pullman downtown “Walk of Fame” established in 2003. One of the “Walk of Fame” tiles honors Oscar Gladish, “beloved and respected” longtime principal of Pullman High School for his service as a City of Pullman mayor.

Photo of Oscar Gladish for sale on ebay Aug. 14, 2018


Pullman Herald Aug. 20, 1980, editorial about Oscar Gladish, 1879-1980

Pullman Herald editorial by Floyd Larson, Editor, Aug. 20, 1980


Oscar Gladish, 1879-1980


Little can be said here to add what has already been said about Oscar Gladish.


His death Saturday ended a distinguished professional and civic career centered around the devoted to Pullman.


Until his final illness, his interest in this community and us did not diminish for Oscar, in retirement as in his active career life, was not one to stay on the sidelines for every long and we have all benefitted from it.


His outlook was always ahead and it was reflected in his devotion to his profession, his family and his community.


Small communities like Pullman need people like Oscar Gladish and we were fortunate indeed that he came along when he did and made Pullman his home.


But perhaps his biggest legacy to Pullman will not be the many impacts he had in his professional and civic undertakings. That legacy is that his own effective way, Oscar Gladish made Pullman a community that can rise to its many challenges and produce the leadership to do so.


He did this by accepting Pullman for what it is – people and commitment himself to them.


Oscar Gladish is dead at 82, but his efforts remain with us in many, many ways and will for many, many years to come. 



Oscarfest2020 in Pullman, July 2020


Greyhounds....PUT THIS ON YOUR CALENDAR!. Details and a dedicated website forthcoming. You can't order a greasy burger from Smiley Bryson at the City Club, but you can rejoice with a pack of PHS strays at this Blockbuster!

Posted by John Maynard at 'Remember Pullman when.....' Facebook page Feb. 8, 2019, at 7:02 PM


Funeral rites June 1967 for Janet Riley Gladish, wife of Oscar Gladish, long-time Pullman High principal




Story based on Thursday, June 22, 1967, Pullman Herald article

Funeral rites Thursday for Janet Riley Gladish, wife of Oscar Gladish, long-time Pullman High principal

Funeral services for Janet Riley Gladish, wife of the former long-time principal of Pullman High School will be conducted at 10 a.m. Thursday, June 22.

Mrs. Gladish,. 66, died Monday after being ill with cancer.
Born Nov. 8, 1900, in Lebanon, Ohio, she married Oscar E. Gladish in 1925 at McMinnville, Oregon.

The couple came to Pullman in 1929, when Mr. Gladish became high school principal, a post he filled until his retirement in in 1963. He survives his wife at the 1812 Duncan Lane family home.

A member of the Palouse Weaving Guild and former past president of the group, Mrs. Gladish was an extensive weaver of cloth, from which she made garments, her husband said, “just for the pleasure of doing it.”

For many years she operated a children’s nursery in her home, usually having more offers to care for children than she could take care of.

Survivors besides her husband include a daughter, Mrs. Ed Porter of Opportunity; three sons, Wendell of Diamond Bar, Calif., Richard of Savage, Minn., and Charles of San Jose, Calif.

A sister, Mrs. Halsey Carsten of West Millford, N.J; and four brothers, Kenneth Riley of Corvallis, Ore., Leonard W. Riley of Glide, Ore., Norman Riley of Newberg, Ore., and Frances Riley of McMinnville.

The family suggests remembrances in the form of contributions to Pullman Memorial Hospital.

The funeral will be at Kimball Funeral Home, Pullman. Music will be by the Pullman High School Treble Triad, directed by Charles Swisher, with Mrs. Orit W. Richard the accompanist.
Active and honorary pallbearers will comprise Pullman High School faculty members there while Mr. Gladish served as principal.

Active pallbearers include C. H. Hill, Donald C. Holmes, Gerald R. McFaul, C. W. Pierson, Dana L. Cleveland and George D. Bell.

Honorary pallbearers will be Raymond H. Hobbs, Roger W. Morris, Guy C. Parkman, Peter J. Smith, John Odgen, Merle R. Cramer, Victor W. Moore, James Wagner, Michael Rendish and Marcus Mitchell.

Burial will be in Pullman Cemetery.