Parade Marshals: Thomas, Broom

WAITSBURG - This year's Waitsburg Celebration Days Parade Marshals -- Gary Thomas and Jeff Broom -- are as native as you can get to Waitsburg without actually being born here. Thomas has invested decades of service in the former Days of Real Sport racing event and Broom has been involved in nearly every other aspect of the community, and the new Celebration Days event. Gary

Thomas was born in Walla Walla to parents Don and Wilma. The family moved to a home on Middle Waitsburg Road in 1945 when Thomas was six months old. Thomas grew up farming and raising cattle with his sister Donna, and brothers Dwight and Jay. Donna is now retired and living in Puyallup, Dwight is a pharmacist in Cheney and Jay remains in the home and farms the land.

Thomas graduated from Waitsburg High School and played football, basketball and baseball. He was also active in 4-H and FFA. He left the area at 20 to work in tool storage at Boeing in Auburn, Wash. He returned to Waitsburg in 1971 and spent ten years farming with his father. Thomas worked for area farmers after that.

Thomas went to auctioneer school in Mason City, Iowa in 1992 and worked at Macon Brothers for two years before joining with Karen Mohney and Classic

Auctions. "I just kind of hit and miss now," said Thomas. "I do things I want to do." One of the things he and wife Jill enjoy doing is purchasing storage units and holding yard sales.

Thomas has three daughters, each born five years apart: Marnie (1966), Taryn (1971) and Courtney (and 1976). The Times has followed the journey of Taryn's son "Baby Mateo" who was born premature at 1 lb. 3 oz. on Nov. 11. Mateo now weighs over 9 lbs., is doing very well and, according to Thomas, should be leaving the hospital very soon. All three girls were involved in FFA and 4-H.

Thomas said he took over his dad's job in the Lion's Club Salmon Bake, helping Bill Thompson with the potatoes, and making the "top secret" potato dip. Thomas became involved with Waitsburg's Days of Real Sports over forty years ago, in 1972. In 1982 he took over for Kenny Gohlman and was in charge of managing the betting booths for the races.

"I was shocked when they told me I was Marshal," said Thomas. He said his brother Jay will pull the marshals through the parade in a wagon their dad had specially built for parades. Jeff Broom

Jeff Broom was born to Waitsburg native Roberta (Stonecipher) Broom and Larry Broom in Spokane, Wash. but moved to Waitsburg when he was only five days old. Larry Broom worked at Hamilton Appliance, across from the current hardware store, before working at the Grain Growers, then starting Blue Mountain Insurance Agency.

Broom graduated from Waitsburg High School and played football, basketball and track, though he says he was, "not very good." He said he didn't take band, 4-H and FFA, but did "everything else" including newspaper, annual and National Honor Society. Broom attended WSU and earned a degree in mechanical engineering.

He began working with Bechtel (the largest construction and engineering company in the United States) in 1967. Broom was assigned to several different construction sites before being transferred to the Davis- Besse nuclear power plant in Ohio, for five years. He was there "long enough to get serious" and met his wife Gayle who was an environmental chemist. The couple lived in Michigan and California before Broom landed a job with Washington Public Power Supply (WPPS) in Richland, Wash. where he stayed for over 17 years. Broom was glad to be in the area and available to his mother, especially following the death of his father.

Broom has two children. His stepson Jude lives in Vancouver, Wash. where he works for Western Family Foods, has two children and coaches soccer. Broom's daughter, Lauren, earned her psychology degree at WSU, before earning a master's in neuroscience in Edinburg, Scotland, then earning a PHD at King's College in London. She had her first child in November and works at Harvard in Cambridge, Mass.

When Broom's mother remarried Carroll Adams of Walla Walla, he felt at peace about leaving the area and took a job in northern Virginia. The position involved overseeing about twenty U.S. projects for Bechtel as well as a dozen projects in the former Soviet Union where he traveled regularly. After an unpleasant stint at the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada, Broom decided it was time to retire at age 55.

He had previously purchased his parent's home and decided to return home to Waitsburg. Broom continued to travel on "twoand three-week consulting gigs that were kind of fun" but also became heavily involved in the local community. Broom said he was glad that he joined the Community College Foundation Board and the United Way Board in Walla Walla where he was able to "sit around the table with all the movers and shakers" and expand his circle of contact.

Locally, Broom joined the Commercial Club, Lions, the Alumni Association and the Historical Society, where his parents had been heavily involved. Broom served as Historical Society President and sat on City Council for two years. He is actively involved with the Historical Society in building the Mill Kiosk, creating a stand for a turbine art sculpture to be displayed at the site and developing the Historical Society website and Facebook page.

Broom recalls that he loved going the horse races when he was a kid. "We would get the moms to be bookies and bet for us. If four or five kids put their money together, we might get $20 to split up. They would pay you with silver dollars if you asked. The kids were the only ones that wanted them," said Broom.

Broom said he hasn't done a lot of work with the races, specifically, but that he is honored to represent the people that are working to keep the weekend alive on behalf of the community. "It takes a lot of volunteers and I'm happy to represent