Rodeo has been central to the life of Hermiston’s Edie Longfellow. And now she has the trophy to show for it.
The Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association has presented Longfellow with the Donita Barnes Lifetime Achievement Award.
Longfellow, 79, who first served as a PRCA secretary in 1967, received the prestigious award for her 57 years of service to the rodeo industry on Dec. 4 at the PRCA Awards Banquet at the South Point Hotel in Las Vegas.
“It feels pretty good because I’ve been doing it for 57 years,” Longfellow said. “I finally won the big deal. It was great, other than I’m not a public speaker and I had to get up and give a speech, which was the hardest part.”
According to the PRCA press release, the Donita Barnes Lifetime Achievement Award honors a variety of contract personnel, including bullfighters, announcers, specialty acts and secretaries who have worked for the institution for at least 15 years and have committed their lives to the rodeo industry.
Longfellow served as a board secretary for the Columbia River Circuit from its inception in 1975 until 2007, when she stepped aside to be the circuit’s board treasurer. In 2019, she was inducted into the Idaho Rodeo Hall of Fame and was appointed the Lewiston Round-Up grand marshal.
She and her family breathe rodeo life. Her husband Clyde, is a a former saddle bronc rider; her daughter Crystal is a PRCA secretary; and her daughter Kelly a barrel racer.
A collection of old rodeo photos, family portraits, plaques, rodeo circuit posters and Western decor line the hallway ways in her ranch home. She gazed at old black-and-white pictures of her, Clyde and the children when they were young. She pointed to photos of Clyde riding a bucking horse, she reminisced about traveling to rodeos, spending time on ranches and riding horses with her family.
“When we first started, it was good,” Longfellow said. “We had a camper and a pickup. When the kids were big enough and had their horses, we’d take their horses with us too. So when we got to the rodeo, then they’d ride. And of course, we knew a lot of places we’d go, they’d have a rodeo at a ranch or something, so they’d go ride with the kids at that ranch and stuff. It was just a fun time and just a big giant family.”
Longfellow expressed her gratitude to her family, the rodeo community and her husband Clyde, for letting her do whatever she wanted to do.
“It’s just a good life,” Longfellow said. “It’s a good thing for the kids. Keep them busy on their horses and keep them out of trouble.”
She walked to the living room while her dog followed her, picked up her lifetime achievement award and sat down. The trophy is a bronze rendering of two hands gripping a saddle.
“You only win once and that’s it,” Longfellow said laughing.
Longfellow has been nominated five times for the Donita Barnes Lifetime Achievement Award and won on her sixth go.
She said she has no plans of retiring any time soon: “I’m only 79,” she added.
