The Disabled Veterans of America hosted a ceremony Sunday, Sept. 29, in Pendleton to designate U.S. Route 30 as the Gold Star Families Memorial Highway.
Route 30 is the longest highway in the state, running 477 miles from Astoria and Ontario. For most of its length east of Portland it is concurrent with Interstate 84. Pendleton is one of five places in Oregon dedicating the highway, and five of eight highway signs will be unveiled during ceremonies in Astoria, Portland, Pendleton, Baker City and Ontario.
Cathe Kujawski, Veterans Service officer with Disabled American Veterans, said this is the last of the major highways in Oregon to honor wartime veterans.
The ceremony featurde the Walla Walla Junior ROTC Color Guard. Dixie Ferguson, who served in the Red Cross for 50 years, along with Carol Flaugher, physician assistant at Walla Walla Veterans Affairs and Kujawski.
“We are wanting to acknowledge to these Gold Star families that their sacrifice is recognized and remembered,” Kujawski said.
The Gold Star Families Memorial Highway honors the families of Oregon’s 6,000 veterans, and 625,000 nationally, who died during the five major wars since World War I.
Gov. Tina Kotek in 2023 signed House Bill 2146 to designate Route 30 as the Oregon Gold Star Families Memorial Highway. Dick Tobiason, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel and Vietnam War veteran from Bend, spearheaded the effort. He leads the Bend Heroes Foundation, which seeks recognition of those who have served in the military and veterans support today.
Steve Ellis, of Baker City, testified in support of the bill during a House hearing in April 2023. His daughter, U.S. Army Cpl. Jessica Ellis, was killed on May 11, 2018 while serving in Iraq.
Gold Star families are those that have had a family member killed while serving in the U.S. military. The most recent Gold Star families in Pendleton are the relatives of Oregon National Guard Warrant Officer Adrian Stump and Sgt. Tane Baum. They died Sept. 25, 2005, when the CH-47 Chinook helicopter they were in was shot down in Afghanistan.
“We lost two service members,” Kujawski said. “It’s too easy to forget that, you know, we lost service people in the war.”
Baum’s mother, Brenda Kuhlmann, of Pendleton, attended the dedication ceremony.
“I’m very thankful,” she said as she held back tears. “It’s nice for the families.”
An informal tradition began in World War I that families would hang a sash in their window with a blue star for each member serving in the war. If the family member was killed, a gold star was placed over the blue star. Members of Gold Star Families number as many as 15,000 in Oregon during the last 104 years.
Former President Franklin D. Roosevelt built upon the growing movement to honor the mothers of deceased service members, and designated the last Sunday of September as National Gold Star Mother’s Day.
President Barack Obama in 2011 amended “Gold Star Mother’s Day” to include families and designated it as “Gold Star Mother’s and Family Day,” which is celebrated on the last Sunday in September.
